How to say “opposite” in 31 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.
- حيال/ħijaːla/ Arabic
- सामने/sɑːm.neː/ Hindi
- απέναντι/aˈpenaˌdi/ Greek
- מול/mul/ Hebrew
- դիմաց/diˈmɑt͡sʰ/ Armenian
“opposite” in French: contraire · German: gegenüber · Arabic: حيال · Hindi: सामने · Turkish: karşı · Greek: απέναντι
It is commonest in Turkish, where karşı is the 216th most used word.
Opposite in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans wel/ˈvæl/ the opposite of not #97
- Albanian kundër/ˈkundəɾ/ #373
- Arabic حيال/ħijaːla/ opposite, forenenst #445
- Armenian դիմաց/diˈmɑt͡sʰ/ opposite, facing, against #362
- Basque aurka/au̯rka/ against, opposite #317
- Bulgarian противен[proˈtivɛn] opposite, contrary #2,318
- Catalan dret[ˈdɾɛt] right; opposite of left #618
- Danish overfor/ɔvərfɔr/ #1,373
- Dutch wel/ʋɛl/ the opposite of not #47
- Estonian tagasi/ˈtɑɡ̊ɑsi/ In the opposite direction #54
- French contraire/kɔ̃.tʁɛːʁ/ #1,367
- German gegenüber[ɡeːɡŋ̍ˈʔyːbɐ] #1,217
- Greek απέναντι/aˈpenaˌdi/ opposite, on the other side, across, over the… #1,469
- Hebrew מול/mul/ Opposite, against, facing #587
- Hindi सामने/sɑːm.neː/ opposite; in front, facing #426
- Hungarian szemben[ˈsɛmbɛn] across, opposite #1,104
- Indonesian seberang/səbəˈraŋ/ the opposite, the other side #2,153
- Italian contrario/konˈtra.rjo/ contrary, opposite, alien #1,440
- Korean 건너[kʌ̹nnʌ̹] the opposite side #1,509
- Lithuanian priešais[¹ˈpʲrʲiɛʃɐɪs] opposite, in front of, across from #848
- Malayalam ഇടത്/iɖɐd̪ɨ/ left; opposite of right #1,370
- Norwegian overfor/ˈoːvərˌfɔr/ opposite, vis-à-vis #1,474
- Persian مقابل[mo.ʁɒː.bel̥] opposite, vis-à-vis of #705
- Portuguese contrário/kõˈtɾa.ɾju/ contrary, opposite #1,061
- Romanian ci/t͡ʃi/ but; so that; on the contrary, opposite #647
- Slovak naproti/naprɔci/ #2,248
- Spanish contrario/konˈtɾaɾjo/ contrary, opposite #1,438
- Tagalog lagos/laˈɡos/ piercing and reaching to the opposite side in… #1,592
- Tamil தென்/t̪ɛn/ term expressing that which is opposite #510
- Turkish karşı/kaɾˈʃɯ/ #216
- Urdu مخالف/mʊ.xɑː.lɪf/ contrary, opposite #1,215
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 Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.