How to say “maybe” in 45 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 Chinese, where 可能 is the 13th most used word.
- Afrikaans miskien #135
- Albanian ndoshta maybe, perhaps #104
- Arabic ربما perhaps, maybe #56
- Armenian գուցե maybe, perhaps #117
- Basque agian maybe, perhaps #121
- Bengali হয়তো perhaps, possibly, maybe #761
- Bosnian možda perhaps, maybe #70
- Catalan potser maybe, perhaps #105
- Chinese 可能 maybe; perhaps; probably; might; may #13
- Croatian možda perhaps, maybe #61
- Czech možná maybe, perhaps #88
- Danish måske perhaps, possibly, maybe #88
- Dutch misschien perhaps, maybe #100
- Estonian võib-olla maybe, perhaps #260
- Finnish ehkä perhaps, maybe #63
- French peut-être maybe, perhaps #129
- Galician quizais perhaps, maybe #425
- Georgian იქნებ #227
- German vielleicht perhaps, maybe #108
- Greek ίσως might, may, perhaps, maybe #97
- Hebrew אולי #63
- Hindi शायद maybe, perhaps #179
- Hungarian talán maybe, perhaps #62
- Icelandic kannski maybe, perhaps #74
- Indonesian mungkin maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably #51
- Italian forse maybe, perhaps, possibly, may, might #126
- Korean 아마 perhaps, maybe #160
- Lithuanian gal maybe, perhaps #57
- Macedonian можеби maybe, perhaps #78
- Malay mungkin Maybe, perhaps, possibly #56
- Norwegian kanskje perhaps; maybe #97
- Persian شاید maybe; perhaps; probably #222
- Polish może maybe, perhaps #29
- Portuguese talvez perhaps; maybe #116
- Romanian poate maybe, possibly #52
- Russian пожалуй maybe, perhaps #1,477
- Serbian možda perhaps, maybe #64
- Slovak možno perhaps, maybe #69
- Slovenian mogoče maybe, perhaps #81
- Spanish quizá perhaps, maybe #302
- Swedish kanske maybe, perhaps, possibly #87
- Tagalog siguro maybe; perhaps; probably; possibly #84
- Turkish belki maybe, possibly, probably #75
- Ukrainian можливо maybe, possibly #196
- Urdu شاید maybe, perhaps #133
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.