How to say “some” in 49 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.
- alguna/alˈɡuna/ Spanish
- 有些/joʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵/ Chinese
- שום/ˈʃum/ Hebrew
- ზოგი[zo̞ɡi] Georgian
- சில/tʃɪlɐ/ Tamil
- కొన్ని/ˈkonni/ Telugu
“some” in Spanish: alguna · French: quelque · German: paar · Italian: alcuni · Portuguese: alguma · Chinese: 有些 · Turkish: bazı
It is commonest in Albanian, where do is the 4th most used word.
Some in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans party/pɐrˈtɛɪ/ some, a few #528
- Albanian do/do/ #4
- Arabic من/min/ having partitive effect: of, some of, parts… #2
- Armenian ոմանք/voˈmɑnkʰ/ some people #538
- Basque bat/bat/ a, an, some #3
- Bosnian malo/mâlo/ little, few, some #81
- Bulgarian някой[ˈnʲa̟koj] #92
- Catalan alguna[əlˈɣu.nə] #101
- Chinese 有些/joʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵/ #102
- Croatian malo/mâlo/ little, few, some #84
- Czech nějaké[ˈɲɛjakɛː] #281
- Danish nogen[ˈnoən] #99
- Dutch ooit/oːi̯t/ sometime, someday, at some point #250
- English won/wɑn/ To reach some destination or object, despite… #162
- Esperanto jam/jam/ already, prior to some time #56
- Estonian kunagi/ˈkunɑɡ̊i/ ever, once, sometime, some day, one day #98
- Finnish eräs/ˈeræs/ a certain, some #878
- French quelque/kɛlk/ #117
- Galician uns/ˈuns/ #258
- Georgian ზოგი[zo̞ɡi] #1,193
- German paar/paːr/ some; few; a few #197
- Greek μερικές/ˌmeriˈces/ few, some #336
- Hebrew שום/ˈʃum/ Some, any; found chiefly in negative… #127
- Hindi को/koː/ in some set phrases, indicates the Possessor:… #20
- Hungarian pár[ˈpaːr] some, a few, a couple #163
- Icelandic einhver[ˈein.kʰvɛːr] someone/something, some #122
- Indonesian sebagian/səbaˈɡian/ a part, some part #813
- Italian alcuni/alˈku.ni/ some, a few #687
- Korean 잠시[ˈt͡ɕa̠(ː)mɕʰi] for a moment, while, some time #345
- Lithuanian nors[¹ˈnoːrs] some- #55
- Macedonian некој/ˈnæko̞j/ #69
- Malay titik/ˈtitek/ to drip, to let some liquid fall one drop at… #1,005
- Malayalam പിന്നെ/pin̪n̪e/ later; at some unspecified time in the future #18
- Persian بعضی[bæʔ.zíː] #767
- Polish jakieś/ˈja.kjɛɕ/ some; unspecified member of the category… #234
- Portuguese alguma/awˈɡũ.mɐ/ some, any #129
- Romanian câteva/ˌkɨteˈva/ some, a little, a few #224
- Russian немного[nʲɪˈmnoɡə] a little, some #166
- Serbian malo/mâlo/ little, few, some #79
- Slovak by/bi/ Used as an independent part of some… #12
- Spanish alguna/alˈɡuna/ some, any #233
- Swedish något/ˈnoːˌɡɔt/ any, some, anything, something #108
- Tagalog kamakailan/kamakaʔiˈlan/ some days ago #1,934
- Tamil சில/tʃɪlɐ/ #35
- Telugu కొన్ని/ˈkonni/ some, a few #40
- Turkish bazı[ˈbaːzɯ] some; an unspecified quantity or number of #270
- Ukrainian кілька[ˈkʲilʲkɐ] several, a few, some #268
- Urdu کسی/kɪ.siː/ #49
- Vietnamese mấy[məj˧˦] some, an indefinite quantity greater than one #192
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.