How to say “somebody” in 36 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.
- кто-то[ˈkto‿tə] Russian
- 某人/moʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɻən³⁵/ Chinese
- 누군가[nuɡunɡa̠] Korean
“somebody” in Portuguese: alguém · Chinese: 某人 · Korean: 누군가 · Russian: кто-то · Turkish: kimse
It is commonest in Norwegian, where noen is the 56th most used word.
Somebody in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans iemand/ˈi.mant/ someone; somebody; anyone #127
- Albanian dikush[diˈkuʃ] someone, somebody #153
- Armenian մեկը/ˈmekə/ someone, somebody #154
- Bengali কেহ/keho/ someone; somebody #1,552
- Bosnian neko/nêko/ someone, somebody #156
- Bulgarian за[za] on the subject of somebody/something, in… #8
- Catalan algú[əlˈɣu] someone, somebody #128
- Chinese 某人/moʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɻən³⁵/ somebody; someone #671
- Croatian netko/nêtko/ someone, somebody #156
- Czech někdo[ˈɲɛɡdo] someone, somebody #122
- English bring/ˈbɹɪŋ/ To transport toward somebody/somewhere #313
- Estonian keegi/ˈkeːɡ̊i/ someone, somebody #88
- Finnish joku/ˈjoku/ someone, somebody #114
- German jemand/ˈjeːmant/ someone, somebody #189
- Greek κάποιος/ˈka.pços/ someone, somebody #156
- Hebrew מישהו/ˈmiʃu/ someone, somebody #97
- Hungarian valaki[ˈvɒlɒki] somebody, someone #114
- Indonesian perlihatkan/pər.liˈhat̚.kan/ to have somebody see something; to display #2,246
- Italian qualcuno/kwalˈku.no/ someone, somebody #147
- Korean 누군가[nuɡunɡa̠] somebody; someone #280
- Latvian līdzi/ˈliːdzi/ used to indicate somebody move together with… #245
- Macedonian некого[ˈnɛkɔɡɔ] somebody, someone #373
- Norwegian noen/²nuː.ɛn/ somebody, someone; anybody, anyone #56
- Persian کسی[kʰʲæ.siː] someone, somebody #208
- Polish ktoś/ˈktɔɕ/ indeterminate personal pronoun; someone,… #117
- Portuguese alguém/awˈɡẽj̃/ somebody; someone #125
- Romanian cineva/t͡ʃi.neˈva/ someone, somebody #111
- Russian кто-то[ˈkto‿tə] somebody, someone #215
- Serbian neko/nêko/ someone, somebody #133
- Slovak niekto/ˈɲi̯ɛktɔ/ someone, somebody #96
- Slovenian nekdo/nɛɡdòː/ someone, somebody #129
- Spanish alguien/ˈalɡjen/ someone, somebody #123
- Tamil ஒருவர்/oɾʊʋɐɾ/ someone, somebody #422
- Telugu ఎవరో/ˈʲeʋaroː/ someone, somebody #237
- Turkish kimse/cimˈse/ somebody, anybody #149
- Ukrainian хтось[xtɔsʲ] somebody, someone #207
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 Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.