How to say “question” in 51 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.
- preguntas/pɾeˈɣuntas/ Spanish
- вопрос[vɐˈpros] Russian
- سؤال/su.ʔaːl/ Arabic
- 問題/wən⁵¹ tʰi³⁵/ Chinese
- सवाल/sə.ʋɑːl/ Hindi
- שאלה/ʃe(ʔ)eˈla/ Hebrew
“question” in Spanish: preguntas · Italian: domanda · Portuguese: questão · Chinese: 問題 · Russian: вопрос · Arabic: سؤال · Hindi: सवाल
It is commonest in Malayalam, where ചോദ്യം is the 185th most used word.
Question in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans vraag/frɑːχ/ #491
- Albanian pyetje/pyˈɛtjɛ/ #292
- Arabic سؤال/su.ʔaːl/ #418
- Armenian հարցեր/hɑɾˈt͡sʰeɾ/ #1,698
- Bengali প্রশ্ন/pɾoʃno/ #265
- Bosnian pitanje/pǐːtaːɲe/ #392
- Bulgarian ли[li] yes-no question particle #12
- Catalan preguntes/pɾəˈɣuntəs/ #656
- Chinese 問題/wən⁵¹ tʰi³⁵/ question; query #299
- Croatian pitanje/pǐːtaːɲe/ #393
- Czech otázka[ˈotaːska] #847
- Danish spørgsmål/ˈspœɐ̯sˌmɔˀl/ #349
- Dutch vragen/ˈvraːɣə(n)/ question, query #251
- English can/kæn/ OK; used at the end of a question when… #34
- Esperanto ĉu/t͡ʃu/ introduces a yes-no question #7
- Estonian kas/kɑs/ Used to introduce a yes-or-no question #11
- Finnish kyse/ˈkyseˣ/ question, discussion #288
- French hé/e/ Used as a tag question, to emphasise what… #258
- Galician cuestión/kwesˈtjon/ #625
- Georgian კითხვა[kʼitʰχʷä] #864
- German ob/ɔp/ Introduces an indirect question, a doubt. if,… #192
- Greek πρόβλημα/ˈpɾo.vli.ma/ problem, complicated question or subject #212
- Hebrew שאלה/ʃe(ʔ)eˈla/ #446
- Hindi सवाल/sə.ʋɑːl/ #405
- Hungarian kérdés[ˈkeːrdeːʃ] #590
- Icelandic spurning[ˈspʏrtniŋk] #610
- Indonesian soal/ˈso.ʔal/ question, problem, matter, point #316
- Italian domanda/doˈman.da/ #528
- Korean 본[po̞n] this, the item in question #170
- Latvian jautājums/ˈjautaːjums/ question; inquiry #495
- Lithuanian klausimas[¹ˈklɑˑʊsʲɪmɐs] #429
- Macedonian прашање[ˈpraʃaɲɛ] #349
- Malay adakah/ˌadəˈkah/ Question pronoun used to inquire about the… #84
- Malayalam ചോദ്യം/t͡ʃoːd̪jɐm/ #185
- Norwegian spørsmål/ˈspœˌʂmoːl/ a question #401
- Persian مسئله[mæs.ʔæ.lé] problem, question #520
- Polish prawda/ˈprav.da/ used as a question tag asking for agreement;… #100
- Portuguese questão/kesˈtɐ̃w̃/ #667
- Romanian întrebare[ɨntreˈbare] #712
- Russian вопрос[vɐˈpros] #348
- Serbian pitanje/pǐːtaːɲe/ #391
- Slovak otázka/ɔtaːska/ #476
- Slovenian vprašanje/ʋpraʃáːnjɛ/ #249
- Spanish preguntas/pɾeˈɣuntas/ #625
- Swedish fråga/ˈfroːˌɡa/ a question #251
- Tagalog tanong/taˈnoŋ/ #378
- Telugu ప్రశ్న[praʃna] question, query, demand, inquiry #243
- Turkish mi/mi/ question particle #6
- Ukrainian чи[t͡ʃɪ] interrogative particle: introduces a question #61
- Urdu سوال/sə.ʋɑːl/ #282
- Vietnamese à[ʔaː˨˩] Question particle #80
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), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.