How to say “possible” in 43 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 Georgian, where შეიძლება is the 57th most used word.
- Afrikaans moontlik #313
- Albanian mundur #320
- Arabic ممكن #373
- Armenian արդյոք whether, really?, is it possible? #178
- Bulgarian възможно as much as possible, the most possibly #357
- Catalan possible #473
- Chinese 能否 whether or not; can it or can't it?; is it… #788
- Czech možný #1,737
- Danish muligt #540
- Dutch mogelijke #2,062
- English full Containing the maximum possible amount that… #518
- Esperanto eblas to be possible #188
- Estonian võimalik #345
- Finnish mahdollista possible, contingent, incidental #728
- French possible the possible, feasible, what can be done,… #417
- Galician posible #818
- Georgian შეიძლება it is possible, it may be that #57
- German möglich #594
- Greek πιθανό likely, possible, potential, probable #1,451
- Hebrew אפשרי #474
- Hindi संभव #716
- Hungarian lehetséges #611
- Indonesian penuh containing the maximum possible amount that… #426
- Italian subito at once, immediately, as soon as possible,… #273
- Korean 몹시 Exceedingly; to the greatest possible extent #1,504
- Latvian iespējams #229
- Macedonian зарем really? is it possible that...? #203
- Malay kemungkinan The state of being possible #787
- Malayalam നടക്കുന്ന #504
- Norwegian mulig #457
- Persian ممکن #569
- Polish można it is possible; one can #233
- Portuguese possível #471
- Russian возможно perhaps, possibly, as ... as possible #165
- Slovenian možen #1,878
- Spanish posible #454
- Swedish möjligt #638
- Tagalog puwede can; able; possible #113
- Tamil சாத்தியம் that which is possible, attainable #629
- Telugu సంభావ్య conceivable, possible #987
- Turkish mümkün #505
- Ukrainian невже really?, is it possible?, indeed #696
- Urdu ممکن #414
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.