How to say “matter” in 38 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.
- importa/imˈpoɾta/ Spanish
- 事情/ʂɻ̩⁵¹ t͡ɕʰiŋ¹/ Chinese
- मामले/mɑːm.leː/ Hindi
- նյութ/njutʰ/ Armenian
- معاملہ/mʊ.(ʔ)ɑːm.lɑː/ Urdu
“matter” in Spanish: importa · German: sache · Chinese: 事情 · Hindi: मामले · Turkish: mesele
It is commonest in Chinese, where 事情 is the 28th most used word.
Matter in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kwessie/ˈkvɛ.si/ question, matter, issue #1,147
- Albanian nejse/nɛjsɛ/ no matter, nevertheless #1,589
- Arabic مهما/mah.maː/ whatever, no matter what often followed by a… #252
- Armenian նյութ/njutʰ/ matter, substance; material, stuff #708
- Bulgarian материал[mɐtɛriˈaɫ] material, matter, stuff #2,398
- Catalan importa/imˈpɔrtə/ to matter #317
- Chinese 事情/ʂɻ̩⁵¹ t͡ɕʰiŋ¹/ matter; affair; something; business; thing;… #28
- Czech vlastně[ˈvlastɲɛ] actually, as a matter of fact #263
- Danish sagen/ˈsaːˀən/ matter, affair #486
- Dutch dingen/ˈdɪŋə(n)/ matter, thing #219
- English gas/ɡæs/ Matter in an intermediate state between… #1,223
- Esperanto gravas/ˈɡravas/ to be important, to matter #216
- Finnish asia/ˈɑsiɑ/ matter, issue, affair, concern, business,… #238
- French question/kɛs.tjɔ̃/ issue, matter, topic, problem #308
- Galician asunto/aˈsunto/ matter, issue #629
- German sache/ˈzaxə/ matter, affair, case, question, issue #318
- Greek υπόθεση/iˈpoθeˌsi/ business, matter, affair #445
- Hindi मामले/mɑːm.leː/ matter, issue #560
- Hungarian baj[ˈbɒj] trouble, matter, problem #147
- Icelandic reyndar[ˈreintar] in fact, as a matter of fact, actually #329
- Indonesian soal/ˈso.ʔal/ question, problem, matter, point #316
- Italian cose/ˈkɔ.ze/ thing, matter #136
- Korean 이거[iɡʌ̹] this thing, this matter #93
- Latvian patiesībā/ˈpatiesiːbaː/ in truth, in fact, as a matter of fact #359
- Lithuanian reikalas[²ˈrʲɛɪˑkɐlɐs] business, affair, matter, issue #400
- Malay hal/ˈhal/ matter; affair; business #232
- Malayalam സംഗതി/sɐŋɡɐd̪i/ the thing, matter #595
- Persian بابت[bɒː.bǽt̪ʰ] account, matter #517
- Polish sprawy/ˈspra.vɘ/ issue, affair, matter, business, thing #376
- Romanian oricum/orʲˈkum/ anyhow, no matter how, in any way, however #413
- Russian дело[ˈdʲeɫə] affair, matter, concern #131
- Spanish importa/imˈpoɾta/ to matter, to be important #228
- Tamil விஷயம்/ʋɪʃɐjɐm/ issue, matter, subject, topic, affair, deed,… #109
- Telugu వస్తువు/ˈʋastuʋu/ a thing, article, matter, substance #475
- Turkish mesele/me.seˈle/ #906
- Ukrainian неважливо[neʋɐʒˈɫɪwɔ] does not matter, unimportant #1,820
- Urdu معاملہ/mʊ.(ʔ)ɑːm.lɑː/ matter, affair, issue #535
- Vietnamese cứ[kɨ˧˦] no matter what #134
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 Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 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.