How to say “otherwise” 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.
- 不然/pu⁵¹ ɻän³⁵/ Chinese
- वरना/ʋəɾ.nɑː/ Hindi
- αλλιώς/aˈʎos/ Greek
- অন্যথায়/ɔnːɔt̪ʰae̯/ Bengali
- وگرنه[væ.ɡʲæɹ.ne] Persian
“otherwise” in German: sonst · Italian: altrimenti · Chinese: 不然 · Hindi: वरना · Greek: αλλιώς
It is commonest in Dutch, where anders is the 165th most used word.
Otherwise in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans geleerde/χəˈlɪə̯r.də/ academic or otherwise learned expert;… #1,772
- Bengali অন্যথায়/ɔnːɔt̪ʰae̯/ otherwise, else, or else #1,927
- Bosnian inače/înaːt͡ʃe/ #776
- Chinese 不然/pu⁵¹ ɻän³⁵/ otherwise; or #246
- Croatian inače/înaːt͡ʃe/ #659
- Danish ellers/ˈɛlˀʌs/ #252
- Dutch anders/ˈɑn.dərs/ #165
- English else/ɛls/ Otherwise, if not #238
- Esperanto alie/aˈlie/ otherwise, in another way, differently #794
- Estonian teisiti/ˈtei̯siti/ #981
- Finnish muuten/ˈmuːten/ else, or else, otherwise #385
- Georgian თორემ[tʰo̞ɾe̞m] or else, otherwise #401
- German sonst/zɔnst/ #290
- Greek αλλιώς/aˈʎos/ otherwise; else; differently #420
- Hebrew פן/pɛn/ lest, ]] that … not, for otherwise; used in… #1,905
- Hindi वरना/ʋəɾ.nɑː/ #1,175
- Hungarian különben[ˈkylømbɛn] #660
- Icelandic annars[ˈan(ː)ar̥s] or else, otherwise #242
- Indonesian p/ˈpe/ used to ping or otherwise start a text… #2,027
- Italian altrimenti/al.triˈmen.ti/ otherwise, or else #1,044
- Lithuanian antraip[ɐn²ˈtrɐɪˑp] otherwise, in a different way, contrarily #963
- Macedonian инаку[ˈinaku] otherwise, differently #515
- Norwegian ellers/ˈɛləʂ/ #325
- Persian وگرنه[væ.ɡʲæɹ.ne] otherwise; or else; if not #527
- Polish inaczej/iˈna.t͡ʂɛj/ differently, otherwise #493
- Portuguese senão/seˈnɐ̃w̃/ else, otherwise; apart from, besides #1,246
- Romanian altfel/ˈaltfel/ #604
- Serbian inače/înaːt͡ʃe/ #707
- Swedish annars/ˈanaʂ/ otherwise, or else #351
- Telugu లేదా/ˈleːdaː/ or, otherwise #43
- Urdu ورنہ/ʋəɾnɑː/ #758
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 Bengali (google (bn_BD), 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.