How to say “however” in 41 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.
It is commonest in Turkish, where ama is the 11th most used word.
- Afrikaans egter #1,003
- Albanian por but; however #33
- Arabic لكن but, however #32
- Armenian սակայն but, however, yet #25
- Basque alta #2,047
- Bosnian no but, however #367
- Bulgarian ама but, however, yet #651
- Catalan però #25
- Chinese 但是 but; however #14
- Croatian no but, however #212
- Czech však but, however #781
- Danish dog #413
- Dutch echter #2,292
- English though Despite that; however #456
- Esperanto do therefore, then, so, indeed, however #42
- Finnish silti however, still, yet, nevertheless,… #333
- French or yet, however, now, that said, as it happens #823
- Galician porén but; however; notwithstanding #1,532
- Georgian ხოლო however, whereas #1,089
- German aber but; however; though #25
- Greek όπως as, like, however #114
- Hindi लेकिन but, however #44
- Hungarian mégis yet, still, but, however, nevertheless, all… #261
- Indonesian namun #512
- Italian ma but, however #19
- Korean 하지만 but, however #20
- Malay namun #746
- Norwegian men but, however, though introducing a clause… #30
- Polish jednak #386
- Romanian însă but, yet, however #704
- Russian правда though, however, but #116
- Serbian ipak still, however, but, yet, anyway,… #370
- Slovak avšak but, however #832
- Slovenian toda but, however #79
- Spanish cuantos as much; as many; however much; however many #2,424
- Swedish dock though, however, still, nevertheless #2,417
- Tagalog ngunit but; however #159
- Turkish ama but; however #11
- Ukrainian проте but, however, yet #1,111
- Urdu تاہم however, yet, nevertheless, nonetheless #1,032
- Vietnamese mà but; however; nevertheless #46
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.