How to say “oneself” in 43 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 Slovak, where sa is the 2nd most used word.
- Afrikaans gevlug to save oneself, seek refuge #1,013
- Albanian vetvetja self, ownself, oneself #2,480
- Arabic لها to divert oneself, to fool around, to putz… #104
- Bulgarian сам alone, by oneself #189
- Catalan treballar to suffer, exert oneself #511
- Chinese 自己 self; oneself #6
- Czech sám oneself, himself, herself, itself #249
- Dutch zelf oneself, referring to the subject of a… #275
- English alone By oneself; apart from, or exclusive of,… #320
- Esperanto pardonpetas to excuse oneself, ask for forgiveness #769
- Estonian ise oneself; used to emphasise the person of the… #148
- Finnish itse oneself, itself #154
- Georgian თვით #601
- German selbst personally, by oneself #205
- Greek βρίσκεται to be located, to find oneself somewhere #614
- Hebrew בעצמו by oneself, on one's own, without assistance #1,086
- Hindi अपने reflexive pronoun: oneself #30
- Hungarian egyedül alone, by oneself, on one's own #231
- Icelandic sér #88
- Indonesian sendiri #112
- Italian si oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves #17
- Korean 자기 #150
- Latvian doties to give oneself; reflexive of dot #358
- Lithuanian pats oneself: himself, herself, myself, yourself #112
- Macedonian сам alone, by oneself #237
- Malay sendiri oneself; myself, yourself, himself, herself,… #136
- Malayalam സ്വയം by oneself; on one's own #116
- Norwegian seg oneself; itself; himself/herself #74
- Polish się oneself, self #3
- Portuguese si oneself, yourself, himself, herself, itself,… #258
- Romanian se oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves #26
- Russian избавиться to get rid of; to rid oneself, to escape… #1,559
- Slovak sa #2
- Slovenian se oneself: myself, yourself, himself, herself,… #4
- Spanish se oneself, himself, herself #17
- Swedish själv oneself, myself, yourself, himself, herself,… #146
- Tagalog sarili oneself; one's ownself #182
- Tamil தான் #22
- Telugu తాను one or oneself #490
- Turkish kendi self, oneself #132
- Ukrainian займатися to be occupied, to keep oneself occupied, to… #2,099
- Urdu خود reflexive pronoun: oneself, one's own #145
- Vietnamese mình #73
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.