How to say “hope” in 51 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- espera/esˈpeɾa/ Spanish
- надеяться[nɐˈdʲe(j)ɪt͡sə] Russian
- رجاء/ra.d͡ʒaːʔ/ Arabic
- 希望/ɕi⁵⁵ wɑŋ⁵¹/ Chinese
- उम्मीद/ʊm.miːd̪/ Hindi
- იმედი[ime̞di] Georgian
“hope” in Spanish: espera · French: espère · German: hoffe · Italian: spero · Portuguese: esperança · Chinese: 希望 · Russian: надеяться · Arabic: رجاء
It is commonest in Chinese, where 希望 is the 25th most used word.
Hope in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian shpresoj/ʃpɾɛsɔj/ to hope #316
- Arabic رجاء/ra.d͡ʒaːʔ/ #428
- Armenian հուսով/huˈsov/ #347
- Basque itxaropen/it͡ʃaɾopen/ #885
- Bengali আশা/aʃa/ #208
- Bosnian nadao/ˈnadɐo/ to hope #1,539
- Bulgarian надежда[nɐˈdɛʒdɐ] hope, expectation #1,130
- Catalan esperança[əs.pəˈɾan.sə] #964
- Chinese 希望/ɕi⁵⁵ wɑŋ⁵¹/ hope; wish #25
- Croatian nadao/ˈnadɐo/ to hope #1,458
- Czech doufám[ˈdou̯faːm] to hope #383
- Danish håber/ˈhɔːbɐ/ to hope #326
- Dutch hoop/ɦoːp/ to hope for, to wish for #307
- English wish/ˈwɪʃ/ A desire, hope, or longing for something or… #440
- Esperanto esperas/esˈperas/ to hope #435
- Estonian loodan/ˈloːd̥ɑn/ to hope #377
- Finnish toivon/ˈtoivon/ to hope, wish #716
- French espère/ɛs.pɛʁ/ to hope #399
- Galician esperanza/espeˈɾanθa/ #890
- Georgian იმედი[ime̞di] #286
- German hoffe/ˈhɔfə/ to hope #466
- Greek ελπίζω/elˈpizo/ to hope to, expect to #357
- Hebrew הלוואי/(h)alˈvaj/ I wish, hope #580
- Hindi उम्मीद/ʊm.miːd̪/ #379
- Hungarian remélem[ˈrɛmeːlɛm] to hope #282
- Icelandic vona[ˈvɔːna] #356
- Indonesian berharap/bərˈharap/ to hope #367
- Italian spero/ˈspɛ.ro/ to hope #447
- Korean 기대[kidɛ] expectation; hope #1,648
- Latvian ceru/ˈt͡særu/ to hope #328
- Lithuanian viltis/ʋʲɪlʲˈtʲɪs/ hope, trust, reliance #1,075
- Macedonian надеж[ˈnadɛʃ] #854
- Malay harap/harap/ to hope #359
- Malayalam പ്രതീക്ഷ/pɾɐt̪iːkʂɐ/ #491
- Norwegian håper/ˈhoːpər/ to hope, to have hope #300
- Persian امید[ʔo.míːd̪̥] #1,516
- Polish nadzieję/naˈd͡ʑɛ.jɛ/ #287
- Portuguese esperança/is.peˈɾɐ̃.sɐ/ #1,071
- Romanian sper[sper] to hope #344
- Russian надеяться[nɐˈdʲe(j)ɪt͡sə] to hope #2,395
- Serbian nadao/ˈnadɐo/ to hope #1,553
- Slovak nádej/ˈnaːdʲej/ #708
- Slovenian upanje/úːpanjɛ/ #568
- Spanish espera/esˈpeɾa/ to hope #183
- Swedish hopp/ˈhɔp/ #1,189
- Tagalog sana/ˈsana/ used to express hope or wish in something… #122
- Tamil நம்பிக்கை/nɐmbɪkːɐɪ̯/ hope, trust, confidence, faith, assurance #161
- Turkish umut/uˈmut/ hope, wish #1,211
- Ukrainian надія[nɐˈdʲijɐ] #1,897
- Urdu امید/ʊm.miːd̪/ #239
- Vietnamese chúc[t͡ɕʊwk͡p̚˧˦] to tell someone that you wish/hope something… #485
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.