How to say “really” in 47 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 真的 is the 8th most used word.
- Afrikaans eintlik actually, really, properly #295
- Albanian shumë very, really; quite #32
- Armenian արդյոք whether, really?, is it possible? #178
- Basque egiaz truly, really, actually #1,442
- Bosnian stvarno really, truly #107
- Bulgarian наистина really, truly #95
- Catalan realment really; in a real way #328
- Chinese 真的 #8
- Croatian stvarno really, truly #111
- Czech opravdu really; indeed #120
- Danish virkelig really, truly #158
- Dutch echt #91
- English real Really; very #267
- Esperanto vere truly, really #86
- Estonian tõesti truly, really, indeed #119
- Finnish todella really, for real, truly #145
- French vraiment truly, really, genuinely #101
- Georgian მართლა #135
- German doch yes; surely; really; on the contrary #68
- Greek αλήθεια really, truly #116
- Hebrew באמת really, in truth #64
- Hindi वाक़ई truly, actually; really #2,053
- Hungarian tényleg really, in actuality, truly #76
- Icelandic virkilega #286
- Italian davvero really, in fact #98
- Korean 정말 really; truly #25
- Latvian tiešām #84
- Lithuanian labai very; really #44
- Macedonian навистина really, truly #86
- Malay memang indeed; in fact; really #159
- Malayalam ശരിക്കും #56
- Norwegian veldig very, really, highly #167
- Persian واقعا really; actually #83
- Polish naprawdę really, truly, actually #84
- Portuguese mesmo really; actually; in fact #76
- Romanian au well?, really? #58
- Russian очень very, really, much, very much #61
- Serbian stvarno really, truly #102
- Slovak naozaj #79
- Spanish realmente really, actually, genuinely #220
- Swedish verkligen really, truly #157
- Tagalog talaga surely; certainly; really; undoubtedly #51
- Telugu అసలు really, actually #457
- Turkish gerçekten really, for real #68
- Ukrainian ж stresses the topic; is, really, right, isn't… #41
- Urdu واقعی really, truly, verily, certainly, actually,… #130
- Vietnamese quả really; truly #410
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.