How to say “please” in 39 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 Turkish, where lütfen is the 60th most used word.
- Afrikaans asseblief please; used to make a polite request #123
- Arabic أرجوك #164
- Armenian համեցեք please!, kindly! #514
- Bengali প্লীজ #781
- Bosnian sviđa to like, please #340
- Bulgarian радвам to please, to make happy #277
- Croatian sviđa to like, please #320
- Czech prosím #91
- Danish venligst please, kindly #1,155
- Dutch alsjeblieft #221
- Esperanto bonvolu #120
- Estonian palun please, please take, there you are #77
- French voir #102
- Galician pracer to please #791
- Georgian გთხოვთ please, I ask...; I'm begging you #238
- German bitte please, if you please #88
- Greek παρακαλώ #101
- Hebrew בבקשה #80
- Hindi कृपया please, would you kindly #142
- Hungarian tessék please, would you?, kindly #198
- Indonesian tolong #152
- Korean 제발 #98
- Latvian lūdzu #66
- Lithuanian prašom #357
- Macedonian молам #82
- Malayalam ദയവായി #96
- Persian خواهشا #1,931
- Polish cieszę to gratify, to gladden, to please #549
- Portuguese favor #111
- Romanian place to please #151
- Russian пожалуйста #119
- Serbian sviđa to like, please #318
- Slovak prosím #68
- Slovenian prosim #70
- Swedish snälla #202
- Tamil தயவுசெய்து #336
- Telugu దయచేసి #67
- Turkish lütfen #60
- Ukrainian прошу #153
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.