How to say “never” in 39 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.
- nunca/ˈnunka/ Spanish
- никогда[nʲɪkaɣˈda] Russian
- არასოდეს[äɾäso̞de̞s] Georgian
- երբեք/jeɾˈpʰekʰ/ Armenian
- هیچ[hiːt͡ʃʰ] Persian
“never” in Spanish: nunca · French: jamais · German: nie · Italian: mai · Portuguese: nunca · Russian: никогда · Turkish: asla
It is commonest in Icelandic, where aldrei is the 63rd most used word.
Never in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans nooit/noːit/ #96
- Albanian kurrë[kurə] #112
- Arabic قط/qatˤtˤu/ ever, never #405
- Armenian երբեք/jeɾˈpʰekʰ/ #130
- Bosnian nikad/nîkad/ #146
- Bulgarian никога[ˈnikoɡɐ] #112
- Catalan mai[ˈmaj] #85
- Chinese 永不/jʊŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ pu⁵¹/ will never; never #1,212
- Croatian nikad/nîkad/ #143
- Czech nikdy[ˈɲɪɡdɪ] #90
- Danish aldrig/aldri/ #101
- Dutch nooit/noːit/ #102
- Esperanto neniam/neˈniam/ #90
- Finnish koskaan/ˈkoskɑːn/ ever; never #120
- French jamais/ʒa.mɛ/ #97
- Galician nunca/ˈnuŋka/ #81
- Georgian არასოდეს[äɾäso̞de̞s] never, nevermore #176
- German nie/niː/ never, never at all #124
- Greek απίστευτο/aˈpistefˌto/ well, I never! #1,008
- Hungarian soha[ˈʃoɦɒ] #151
- Icelandic aldrei[ˈaltrei] never, at no time #63
- Italian mai/ˈma.i/ #66
- Korean 절대[t͡ɕʌ̹ɭt͈ɛ] absolutely, totally, never #142
- Latvian nekad/neˈkad/ #96
- Lithuanian niekada[nʲiɛkɐˈdɐ] #115
- Macedonian никогаш[ˈnikɔɡaʃ] #94
- Norwegian aldri/²ɑldrɪ/ #99
- Persian هیچ[hiːt͡ʃʰ] #197
- Polish nigdy/ˈɲi.ɡdɘ/ #85
- Portuguese nunca/ˈnũ.kɐ/ #93
- Romanian niciodată[ni.t͡ʃoˈda.tə] #154
- Russian никогда[nʲɪkaɣˈda] never, nevermore #107
- Serbian nikad/nîkad/ #144
- Slovenian nikoli/nikóːli/ never, at no time #77
- Spanish nunca/ˈnunka/ #98
- Swedish aldrig/²alːdrɪ(ɡ)/ #92
- Tagalog talunan/taluˈnan/ defeated; beaten; never able to win #1,332
- Turkish asla/ˈas.ɫaː/ #151
- Ukrainian ніколи[nʲiˈkɔɫe] #115
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 Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.