How to say “probably” 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 Chinese, where 可能 is the 13th most used word.
- Afrikaans seker probably, likely #129
- Armenian հավանաբար probably, likely #410
- Basque noski maybe, probably #122
- Bosnian valjda probably, likely #476
- Bulgarian навярно #2,255
- Catalan probablement #554
- Chinese 可能 maybe; perhaps; probably; might; may #13
- Croatian vjerojatno #316
- Czech pravděpodobně #866
- Danish sikkert #235
- Dutch waarschijnlijk #451
- English likely #1,865
- Esperanto verŝajne apparently, likely, probably, presumably #320
- Estonian vist probably, possibly #232
- Finnish kai probably, I guess #123
- French probablement #737
- Galician probablemente #1,064
- Georgian ალბათ #150
- German wohl possibly, probably; as I was told guess +… #184
- Greek πιθανόν #1,085
- Hungarian valószínűleg #428
- Icelandic víst #209
- Italian probabilmente probably, likely, possibly, easily #517
- Latvian laikam #217
- Lithuanian turbūt very probably #186
- Macedonian веројатно probably, likely #360
- Malay agaknya perhaps; maybe; probably; I guess #1,257
- Norwegian sannsynligvis #1,782
- Persian شاید maybe; perhaps; probably #222
- Polish chyba expresses confidence but not certainty;… #97
- Portuguese provavelmente #551
- Russian должно it must be, probably #267
- Serbian verovatno #330
- Spanish probablemente probably, likely #492
- Swedish förmodligen #1,250
- Tagalog siguro maybe; perhaps; probably; possibly #84
- Telugu బహుశా probably, perhaps #98
- Turkish belki maybe, possibly, probably #75
- Ukrainian мабуть apparently, probably, perhaps #253
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.