How to say “sad” in 34 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.
- حزين/ħa.ziːn/ Arabic
- उदास/ʊ.d̪ɑːs/ Hindi
- עצוב/aˈt͡suv/ Hebrew
- দুঃখজনক/d̪ukʰːɔd͡ʒɔnok/ Bengali
“sad” in French: triste · Italian: triste · Portuguese: triste · Arabic: حزين · Hindi: उदास · Turkish: üzgün
It is commonest in Swedish, where ledsen is the 201st most used word.
Sad in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic حزين/ħa.ziːn/ sad, sorrowful #1,497
- Bengali দুঃখজনক/d̪ukʰːɔd͡ʒɔnok/ sad, saddening, sorrowful, regrettable,… #1,417
- Bosnian tužna/ˈtuʒnɐ/ #2,451
- Bulgarian тъжен[ˈtɤʒɛn] sad, sorrowful #2,397
- Catalan trist[ˈtɾist] sad, unhappy #1,365
- Chinese 可悲/kʰɤ²¹⁴⁻²¹ peɪ̯⁵⁵/ lamentable; sad; pathetic #1,240
- Croatian tužna/ˈtuʒnɐ/ #2,383
- Czech smutný[ˈsmutniː] #2,128
- Danish trist/ˈtʁisd/ #1,312
- Dutch zielig/ˈzi.ləx/ sad, pitiful #2,408
- Estonian kurb/kurb̥/ #886
- Finnish pahoillani/ˈpahoilˌlanɪ/ sorry; upset, sad #175
- French triste/tʁist/ #948
- Galician triste/ˈtɾiste/ sad, unhappy #710
- Hebrew עצוב/aˈt͡suv/ Sad, unhappy: experiencing the emotion of… #886
- Hindi उदास/ʊ.d̪ɑːs/ sad, depressed #1,509
- Hungarian szomorú[ˈsomoruː] sad, sorrowful, mournful #1,046
- Icelandic dapur[ˈtaːpʏr] sad, dejected #2,253
- Indonesian sedih/səˈdih/ sad; unhappy; sorrowful #939
- Italian triste/ˈtris.te/ sad, unhappy, bleak #1,077
- Korean 슬퍼[sʰɯɭpʰʌ̹] to be sad #2,089
- Lithuanian liūdnas/ˈlʲuːdnɐs/ sad, downhearted, sorrowful #1,915
- Macedonian тажен[ˈtaʒɛn] #2,244
- Malay sedih/səˈdeh/ sad; unhappy; sorrowful #842
- Norwegian trist/ˈtrɪst/ #1,033
- Portuguese triste/ˈtɾis.t͡ʃi/ sad; unhappy; down #1,049
- Romanian trist/trist/ #1,322
- Serbian tužna/ˈtuʒnɐ/ #2,171
- Slovak smutný/smutniː/ #1,128
- Swedish ledsen/lɛsːən/ #201
- Tagalog malungkot/maluŋˈkot/ sad; lonely; sorrowful #1,129
- Turkish üzgün/yzˈɟyn/ #955
- Urdu اداس/ʊ.d̪ɑːs/ sad, unhappy #2,212
- Vietnamese buồn[ʔɓuən˨˩] #652
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) 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.