How to say “really” in 47 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.
- realmente/reˌalˈmente/ Spanish
- 真的/ʈ͡ʂən⁵⁵ d̥ə²/ Chinese
- 정말[ˈt͡ɕɘ(ː)ŋma̠ɭ] Korean
- αλήθεια/aˈli.θça/ Greek
- באמת/beʔeˈmet/ Hebrew
- მართლა[mäɾtʰɫä] Georgian
“really” in Spanish: realmente · Italian: davvero · Portuguese: mesmo · Chinese: 真的 · Korean: 정말 · Turkish: gerçekten · Greek: αλήθεια
It is commonest in Chinese, where 真的 is the 8th most used word.
Really in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans eintlik/ˈɛɪntlək/ actually, really, properly #295
- Albanian shumë/ˈʃumə/ very, really; quite #32
- Armenian արդյոք/ɑɾˈt͡sʰjokʰ/ whether, really?, is it possible? #178
- Basque egiaz/eɡias̻/ truly, really, actually #1,442
- Bosnian stvarno/stʋâːrno/ really, truly #107
- Bulgarian наистина[nɐˈistinɐ] really, truly #95
- Catalan realment[reˌalˈmen] really; in a real way #328
- Chinese 真的/ʈ͡ʂən⁵⁵ d̥ə²/ #8
- Croatian stvarno/stʋâːrno/ really, truly #111
- Czech opravdu[ˈopravdu] really; indeed #120
- Danish virkelig/ˈviɐ̯ɡəli/ really, truly #158
- Dutch echt/ɛxt/ #91
- English real/ˈɹi.əl/ Really; very #267
- Esperanto vere/ˈvere/ truly, really #86
- Estonian tõesti/ˈtɤe̯sti/ truly, really, indeed #119
- Finnish todella/ˈtodelːɑ/ really, for real, truly #145
- French vraiment/vʁɛ.mɑ̃/ truly, really, genuinely #101
- Georgian მართლა[mäɾtʰɫä] #135
- German doch/dɔx/ yes; surely; really; on the contrary #68
- Greek αλήθεια/aˈli.θça/ really, truly #116
- Hebrew באמת/beʔeˈmet/ really, in truth #64
- Hindi वाक़ई/ʋɑː.qə.iː/ truly, actually; really #2,053
- Hungarian tényleg[ˈteːɲlɛɡ] really, in actuality, truly #76
- Icelandic virkilega/ˈvɪr̥cɪlɛɣa/ #286
- Italian davvero/davˈve.ro/ really, in fact #98
- Korean 정말[ˈt͡ɕɘ(ː)ŋma̠ɭ] really; truly #25
- Latvian tiešām/ˈtieʃaːm/ #84
- Lithuanian labai[lɐˈbɐj] very; really #44
- Macedonian навистина[naˈvistina] really, truly #86
- Malay memang/ˈmemaŋ/ indeed; in fact; really #159
- Malayalam ശരിക്കും/ʃɐɾikkum/ #56
- Norwegian veldig/ˈvɛl.di/ very, really, highly #167
- Persian واقعا[vɒː.ʁe.ʔǽn] really; actually #83
- Polish naprawdę/naˈprav.dɛ/ really, truly, actually #84
- Portuguese mesmo/ˈmez.mu/ really; actually; in fact #76
- Romanian au/aw/ well?, really? #58
- Russian очень[ˈot͡ɕɪnʲ] very, really, much, very much #61
- Serbian stvarno/stʋâːrno/ really, truly #102
- Slovak naozaj/ˈnaɔzaj/ #79
- Spanish realmente/reˌalˈmente/ really, actually, genuinely #220
- Swedish verkligen/ˈvɛrklɪɡɛn/ really, truly #157
- Tagalog talaga/talaˈɡa/ surely; certainly; really; undoubtedly #51
- Telugu అసలు/asalu/ really, actually #457
- Turkish gerçekten/ɟæɾ.tʃecˈtæn/ really, for real #68
- Ukrainian ж[ʒɛ] stresses the topic; is, really, right, isn't… #41
- Urdu واقعی/ʋɑːqɪiː/ really, truly, verily, certainly, actually,… #130
- Vietnamese quả[kwaː˧˩] really; truly #410
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 Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), 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.