How to say “pardon” in 34 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 Malay, where maaf is the 106th most used word.
- Afrikaans verskoning a pardon; forgiveness #542
- Albanian fal to forgive, pardon #152
- Armenian ներում pardon, forgiveness #933
- Bengali ক্ষমা forgiveness, pardon #277
- Bosnian oprostiti to forgive, pardon #1,624
- Bulgarian извинявам to forgive, excuse, pardon #1,366
- Catalan perdona to pardon, forgive, excuse #502
- Chinese 原諒 to forgive; to excuse; to pardon #1,692
- Croatian oprostiti to forgive, pardon #1,406
- Dutch sorry sorry, pardon, excuse me #197
- English excuse To forgive; to pardon; to overlook #344
- Esperanto pardonu to forgive, pardon #125
- Estonian vabandage excuse me, pardon me #412
- French pardonner to pardon, forgive #2,436
- German verzeihen to forgive; to pardon; to excuse #1,378
- Greek συγχωρείτε to forgive, pardon, excuse #508
- Hebrew סליחה forgiveness, pardon #201
- Hindi क्षमा a pardon, forgiveness #354
- Hungarian elnézést sorry!, pardon! #216
- Italian scusi excuse me, pardon me #419
- Korean 사면 pardon; amnesty #2,108
- Macedonian извини to forgive, excuse, pardon #156
- Malay maaf Pardon, forgiveness #106
- Portuguese perdão pardon; forgiveness #1,532
- Romanian poftim please!, please?, pardon!, I beg your pardon,… #379
- Serbian oprostiti to forgive, pardon #1,787
- Spanish perdón sorry, pardon me #581
- Swedish ursäkta excuse me!, pardon, I'm sorry! #211
- Tamil மன்னிப்பு forgiveness, pardon #300
- Telugu క్షమించు to pardon #967
- Turkish pardon pardon!, pardon me!, excuse me!, I beg your… #543
- Ukrainian вибачення #1,325
- Urdu بخشش #2,334
- Vietnamese xá to pardon #1,906
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.