How to say “please” in 39 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.
- пожалуйста[pɐˈʐaɫʊstə] Russian
- أرجوك/ʔar.d͡ʒuːk/ Arabic
- 제발[ˈt͡ɕe̞(ː)ba̠ɭ] Korean
- कृपया/kɾɪp.jɑː/ Hindi
- παρακαλώ/parakaˈlo/ Greek
- בבקשה/be.va.kaˈʃa/ Hebrew
“please” in French: voir · German: bitte · Portuguese: favor · Korean: 제발 · Russian: пожалуйста · Arabic: أرجوك · Hindi: कृपया · Turkish: lütfen
It is commonest in Turkish, where lütfen is the 60th most used word.
Please in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans asseblief/ˌasəˈblif/ please; used to make a polite request #123
- Arabic أرجوك/ʔar.d͡ʒuːk/ #164
- Armenian համեցեք/hɑmeˈt͡sʰekʰ/ please!, kindly! #514
- Bengali প্লীজ/pliz/ #781
- Bosnian sviđa/ˈsvidʑɐ/ to like, please #340
- Bulgarian радвам[ˈradvɐm] to please, to make happy #277
- Croatian sviđa/ˈsvidʑɐ/ to like, please #320
- Czech prosím[ˈprosiːm] #91
- Danish venligst/ˈvɛnlisd/ please, kindly #1,155
- Dutch alsjeblieft/ˌɑ(l)ʃəˈblift/ #221
- Esperanto bonvolu/bonˈvolu/ #120
- Estonian palun/ˈpɑlun/ please, please take, there you are #77
- French voir/vwaʁ/ #102
- Galician pracer/pɾaˈθeɾ/ to please #791
- Georgian გთხოვთ[ɡ̊tʰχo̞ftʰ] please, I ask...; I'm begging you #238
- German bitte/ˈbɪtə/ please, if you please #88
- Greek παρακαλώ/parakaˈlo/ #101
- Hebrew בבקשה/be.va.kaˈʃa/ #80
- Hindi कृपया/kɾɪp.jɑː/ please, would you kindly #142
- Hungarian tessék[ˈtɛʃːeːk] please, would you?, kindly #198
- Indonesian tolong/ˈtɔlɔŋ/ #152
- Korean 제발[ˈt͡ɕe̞(ː)ba̠ɭ] #98
- Latvian lūdzu/ˈluːdzu/ #66
- Lithuanian prašom[²ˈprɑːʃoːm] #357
- Macedonian молам[ˈmɔɫam] #82
- Malayalam ദയവായി/d̪ɐjɐʋaːji/ #96
- Persian خواهشا[xɒː.ɦe.ʃǽn] #1,931
- Polish cieszę/ˈt͡ɕɛ.ʂɛ/ to gratify, to gladden, to please #549
- Portuguese favor/faˈvoʁ/ #111
- Romanian place[ˈplat͡ʃe] to please #151
- Russian пожалуйста[pɐˈʐaɫʊstə] #119
- Serbian sviđa/ˈsvidʑɐ/ to like, please #318
- Slovak prosím/prɔsiːm/ #68
- Slovenian prosim/pròːsim/ #70
- Swedish snälla/ˈsnɛlːˌa/ #202
- Tamil தயவுசெய்து/d̪ɐjɐʋʊtʃɛjd̪ɯ/ #336
- Telugu దయచేసి/ˈdajaˌceːsi/ #67
- Turkish lütfen/ˈlyt.fɛn/ #60
- Ukrainian прошу/proʃu/ #153
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.