How to say “lie” 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.
- mentira/menˈtiɾa/ Spanish
- ложь[ɫoʂ] Russian
- झूठ/d͡ʒʱuːʈʰ/ Hindi
- ψέματα/ˈpse.ma.ta/ Greek
- שקר/ˈʃekeʁ/ Hebrew
- պառկել/pɑɾˈkel/ Armenian
“lie” in Spanish: mentira · French: menti · German: liegt · Italian: mente · Portuguese: mente · Russian: ложь · Hindi: झूठ · Greek: ψέματα
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where lê is the 244th most used word.
Lie in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans lê/lɛː/ to lie #244
- Albanian gënjyer/ɡəɲyɛɾ/ to lie #1,293
- Arabic تكذب/ta.kað.ðub/ to pretend to lie #734
- Armenian պառկել/pɑɾˈkel/ to lie, lie down #692
- Basque oheratu/oeɾatu/ to go to bed, lie down #692
- Bengali মিথ্যা/mit̪ʰːa/ falsehood, lie #297
- Bosnian slažem/ˈslaʒɛm/ to lie #1,013
- Bulgarian лъжа[ɫɐˈʒa̟] untruth, lie, falsehood #780
- Catalan ment[ˈmen] to lie #908
- Chinese 趴下/pʰä⁵⁵ ɕi̯ä²/ to lie face down; to lie prostrate #695
- Croatian slažem/ˈslaʒɛm/ to lie #915
- Czech lhal[ˈlɦal] to lie #1,302
- Danish ligger/ˈleɡɐ/ to lie #437
- Dutch ligt/lɪxt/ to lie; to be lying down #394
- English liar/ˈlaɪ.ɚ/ Someone who tells a lie; especially, a person… #1,909
- Esperanto kuŝas/ˈkuʃas/ to lie, to recline #919
- Estonian valeta/ˈvɑletɑ/ #1,187
- Finnish valehtele/ˈvalehˌtele/ to lie #2,205
- French menti/mɑ̃ˈti/ to lie #1,077
- Galician mentira/menˈtiɾa/ lie, falsehood #1,253
- Georgian ტყუილი[tʼχʼuili] deceit, lie #1,101
- German liegt/lɪkt/ to lie #440
- Greek ψέματα/ˈpse.ma.ta/ #407
- Hebrew שקר/ˈʃekeʁ/ lie, falsehood #973
- Hindi झूठ/d͡ʒʱuːʈʰ/ lie, falsehood #398
- Hungarian hazugság[ˈhɒzukʃaːɡ] #1,605
- Icelandic satt/saht/ true, not a lie, authentic #131
- Indonesian kebohongan/kəboˈhoŋan/ #1,358
- Italian mente/ˈmen.te/ to lie #573
- Korean 바로[pa̠ɾo̞] truly, without lie or deception #88
- Latvian melo/ˈmæluo/ to lie, to tell lies #1,255
- Lithuanian melas/ˈmʲæːɫas/ #885
- Macedonian лага[ˈɫaɡa] #1,157
- Malay baring/ˈbariŋ/ to lie down #2,112
- Malayalam നുണ/n̪uɳɐ/ lie, false information, intentional untruth #262
- Norwegian ligger/ˈlɪɡər/ to lie #408
- Persian دروغ[d̪o.ɹúːɢ̥] #261
- Polish kłamstwo/ˈkwam.stfɔ/ #2,336
- Portuguese mente/ˈmẽ.t͡ʃi/ to lie #814
- Romanian mint/mint/ to lie #1,481
- Russian ложь[ɫoʂ] lie, falsehood #1,574
- Serbian slažem/ˈslaʒɛm/ to lie #890
- Slovak klamal/klamal/ to lie #712
- Slovenian laž/láːʃ/ #619
- Spanish mentira/menˈtiɾa/ lie, trick, falsity #1,300
- Swedish ligger/ˈlɪɡɛr/ to lie; be in a horizontal position #329
- Tagalog humiga/humiˈɡaʔ/ to lie on; to lie down #1,081
- Tamil பொய்/poj/ lie, falsehood, falsity, untruth #789
- Ukrainian неправда[neˈprau̯dɐ] untruth, falsehood, lie #1,264
- Urdu جھوٹ/d͡ʒʱuːʈ/ lie, fib, falsehood, fabrication #254
- Vietnamese nằm[nam˨˩] to lie #531
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.