How to say “oneself” in 43 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.
- se/se/ Spanish
- 자기[t͡ɕa̠ɡi] Korean
- თვით[tʰʷitʰ] Georgian
- தான்/t̪ɑːn/ Tamil
“oneself” in Spanish: se · Italian: si · Portuguese: si · Korean: 자기
It is commonest in Slovak, where sa is the 2nd most used word.
Oneself in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans gevlug/xəˈflœx/ to save oneself, seek refuge #1,013
- Albanian vetvetja/vɛtˈvɛtja/ self, ownself, oneself #2,480
- Arabic لها/la.haː/ to divert oneself, to fool around, to putz… #104
- Bulgarian сам[sam] alone, by oneself #189
- Catalan treballar[tɾə.βəˈʎa] to suffer, exert oneself #511
- Chinese 自己/t͡sɹ̩⁵¹ t͡ɕi²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ self; oneself #6
- Czech sám[ˈsaːm] oneself, himself, herself, itself #249
- Dutch zelf/zɛlf/ oneself, referring to the subject of a… #275
- English alone/əˈloʊn/ By oneself; apart from, or exclusive of,… #320
- Esperanto pardonpetas/ˌpardonˈpetas/ to excuse oneself, ask for forgiveness #769
- Estonian ise/ˈise/ oneself; used to emphasise the person of the… #148
- Finnish itse/ˈitse(ˣ)/ oneself, itself #154
- Georgian თვით[tʰʷitʰ] #601
- German selbst/zɛlps/ personally, by oneself #205
- Greek βρίσκεται/ˈvrisceˌte/ to be located, to find oneself somewhere #614
- Hebrew בעצמו/bat͡sˈmo/ by oneself, on one's own, without assistance #1,086
- Hindi अपने/əp.neː/ reflexive pronoun: oneself #30
- Hungarian egyedül[ˈɛɟɛdyl] alone, by oneself, on one's own #231
- Icelandic sér[sjɛr] #88
- Indonesian sendiri/sənˈdiri/ #112
- Italian si/si/ oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves #17
- Korean 자기[t͡ɕa̠ɡi] #150
- Latvian doties/ˈduoties/ to give oneself; reflexive of dot #358
- Lithuanian pats[ˈpɐts] oneself: himself, herself, myself, yourself #112
- Macedonian сам[sam] alone, by oneself #237
- Malay sendiri/sən.di.ri/ oneself; myself, yourself, himself, herself,… #136
- Malayalam സ്വയം/sʋɐjɐm/ by oneself; on one's own #116
- Norwegian seg/ˈsæ͡ɪ/ oneself; itself; himself/herself #74
- Polish się/ɕɛ/ oneself, self #3
- Portuguese si/ˈsi/ oneself, yourself, himself, herself, itself,… #258
- Romanian se/se/ oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves #26
- Russian избавиться[ɪzˈbavʲɪt͡sə] to get rid of; to rid oneself, to escape… #1,559
- Slovak sa/sa/ #2
- Slovenian se/sɛ/ oneself: myself, yourself, himself, herself,… #4
- Spanish se/se/ oneself, himself, herself #17
- Swedish själv/ˈɧɛlːv/ oneself, myself, yourself, himself, herself,… #146
- Tagalog sarili/saˈɾili/ oneself; one's ownself #182
- Tamil தான்/t̪ɑːn/ #22
- Telugu తాను/t̪aːnu/ one or oneself #490
- Turkish kendi/cendi/ self, oneself #132
- Ukrainian займатися[zɐi̯ˈmatesʲɐ] to be occupied, to keep oneself occupied, to… #2,099
- Urdu خود/xʊd̪/ reflexive pronoun: oneself, one's own #145
- Vietnamese mình[mïŋ˨˩] #73
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), 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.