How to say “know” in 52 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.
- sé/ˈse/ Spanish
- 知道/ʈ͡ʂɻ̩⁵⁵ tɑʊ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- जाना/d͡ʒɑː.nɑː/ Hindi
- הכיר/hiˈkiʁ/ Hebrew
- იცი[it͡sʰi] Georgian
- জানতে/d͡ʒant̪e/ Bengali
“know” in Spanish: sé · French: sais · German: weiß · Italian: so · Chinese: 知道 · Hindi: जाना · Turkish: biliyorum
It is commonest in Chinese, where 知道 is the 1st most used word.
Know in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans weet/vɪət/ to know #41
- Albanian di/di/ to know #36
- Arabic أشعر/ʔaʃʕara/ to let know, to notify, to inform, to give… #144
- Armenian գիտեմ/ɡiˈtem/ I know #201
- Basque jakin/ɟakin/ to know #97
- Bengali জানতে/d͡ʒant̪e/ to know #190
- Bosnian zna/ˈzna/ to know #189
- Bulgarian знам[znam] to know #47
- Catalan sé[ˈse] to know, to have knowledge #58
- Chinese 知道/ʈ͡ʂɻ̩⁵⁵ tɑʊ̯⁵¹/ to know; to be aware of #1
- Croatian zna/ˈzna/ to know #185
- Czech vím[ˈviːm] to know #85
- Danish jo[jo] as you know or should know #90
- Dutch weet/ʋeːt/ to know, to be aware of something #37
- English could/kʊd/ To know how to #103
- Esperanto scias/ˈst͡sias/ to know #47
- Estonian tea/teɑ̯/ to know #70
- Finnish tiedä/ˈtiedæ/ to know, be aware of #59
- French sais/sɛ/ to know #64
- Galician sei/sei/ to know #71
- Georgian იცი[it͡sʰi] to know #68
- German weiß/vaɪ̯s/ to know; to be aware of #70
- Greek ξέρω/ˈkse.ɾo/ to know of, be familiar with #51
- Hebrew הכיר/hiˈkiʁ/ To know, to recognize, to be familiar with,… #2,165
- Hindi जाना/d͡ʒɑː.nɑː/ to know, comprehend, understand #113
- Hungarian tudom[ˈtudom] to know #33
- Icelandic veit/veiːt/ to know, know of something #35
- Indonesian kenal/kəˈnal/ to recognize, to know, to be acquainted with #489
- Italian so/ˈsɔ/ to know #52
- Korean 몰라[mo̞ɭɭa̠] to not know, to be ignorant of #126
- Latvian zinu/ˈzinu/ to know #74
- Lithuanian žinai[ʒʲɪ²ˈnɐɪˑ] to know #78
- Macedonian знае[ˈznaɛ] to know #153
- Malay tahu/tahu/ to know #23
- Malayalam അറിയുക/ɐrijuɡɐ/ to know #996
- Norwegian vet/ˈveːt/ to know; have knowledge of #42
- Persian دونستن[duːnesˈtʰæn] to know #1,882
- Polish wiem/ˈvjɛm/ to know #39
- Portuguese sei/ˈsej/ to be aware, to know #55
- Romanian cunosc/kuˈnosk/ to know #407
- Russian знаю[ˈznajʊ] to know: to be familiar with or accustomed to… #45
- Serbian zna/ˈzna/ to know #186
- Slovak viem/viˈem/ to know #63
- Slovenian vedeti/ʋèːdɛti/ to know #206
- Spanish sé/ˈse/ to know, to understand #55
- Swedish vet/ˈveːt/ to know; to be certain about, to have… #36
- Tagalog makilala/makiˈlala/ to be acquainted with; to know; to recognize #1,175
- Tamil அறிவேன்/ɐrɪʋeːn/ to know, understand, recognize, perceive by… #1,405
- Turkish biliyorum/biˈlijoɾum/ to know, be informed of, be aware of; to… #70
- Ukrainian знати[ˈznate] to know #289
- Urdu جاننا/d͡ʒɑːn.nɑː/ to know, comprehend, understand #384
- Vietnamese biết[ʔɓiət̚˧˦] to know; to be aware of #28
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.