How to say “suddenly” in 40 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.
- вдруг[vdruk] Russian
- فجأة/fad͡ʒ.ʔa.tan/ Arabic
- 突然/tʰu⁵⁵ ɻän³⁵/ Chinese
- 갑자기[ka̠p̚t͡ɕ͈a̠ɡi] Korean
- अचानक/ə.t͡ʃɑː.nək/ Hindi
- ξαφνικά/ˌksafniˈka/ Greek
“suddenly” in French: soudain · German: plötzlich · Chinese: 突然 · Korean: 갑자기 · Russian: вдруг · Arabic: فجأة · Hindi: अचानक · Turkish: aniden
It is commonest in Chinese, where 突然 is the 179th most used word.
Suddenly in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans skielik/ˈskilək/ #562
- Arabic فجأة/fad͡ʒ.ʔa.tan/ suddenly, unexpectedly, inadvertently,… #588
- Armenian հանկարծ/hɑnˈkɑɾt͡s/ #447
- Bengali হঠাৎ/hɔʈʰat̪/ suddenly, all of a sudden #583
- Bosnian odjednom/odjědnoːm/ suddenly, unexpectedly, at once #927
- Bulgarian изведнъж[izvɛdˈnɤʃ] #989
- Chinese 突然/tʰu⁵⁵ ɻän³⁵/ suddenly; abruptly #179
- Croatian odjednom/odjědnoːm/ suddenly, unexpectedly, at once #932
- Danish pludselig/ˈplusəli/ suddenly, all of a sudden #880
- Dutch ineens/iˈneːns/ #1,297
- English grab/ˈɡɹæb/ To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch #1,064
- Esperanto subite/suˈbite/ #856
- Estonian äkki/ˈækːi/ #257
- Finnish yhtäkkiä/ˈyhtækːiæ/ suddenly, abruptly, all of a sudden #1,342
- French soudain/su.dɛ̃/ suddenly, all of a sudden #2,498
- German plötzlich/ˈplœt͡slɪç/ suddenly, abruptly #903
- Greek ξαφνικά/ˌksafniˈka/ suddenly, all of a sudden #829
- Hebrew פתאום/pitˈ(ʔ)om/ suddenly, all of a sudden, of a sudden #810
- Hindi अचानक/ə.t͡ʃɑː.nək/ #840
- Hungarian hirtelen[ˈhirtɛlɛn] suddenly, all of a sudden #750
- Icelandic skyndilega[ˈscɪntɪˌlɛːɣa] #867
- Indonesian tiba-tiba/ti.baˈti.ba/ #771
- Korean 갑자기[ka̠p̚t͡ɕ͈a̠ɡi] suddenly, all of a sudden #273
- Latvian pēkšņi/ˈpeːkʃɲi/ suddenly, abruptly; adverbial form of pēkšņs #813
- Lithuanian staiga[stɐɪˈɡɐ] #580
- Macedonian одеднаш[ˈɔdɛdnaʃ] #840
- Malay terfikir/tərˈfikir/ to suddenly think of; to come to mind #967
- Norwegian plutselig/ˈplʉtsəlɪ/ #846
- Persian ناگهان[nɒːɡʲæˈhɒn] #2,159
- Polish nagle/ˈna.ɡlɛ/ #821
- Russian вдруг[vdruk] suddenly, all of a sudden #734
- Serbian odjednom/odjědnoːm/ suddenly, unexpectedly, at once #888
- Slovenian naenkrat/naɛ̀ːnkrat/ #528
- Swedish plötsligt/ˈplœtslɪkt/ suddenly; without forewarning #915
- Tagalog bigla/biɡˈlaʔ/ suddenly; abruptly #853
- Telugu అకస్మాత్తుగా/akasmaːt̪ːuɡaː/ suddenly - in a sudden manner #756
- Turkish aniden/aː.niˈden/ #1,302
- Ukrainian раптом[ˈraptɔm] #923
- Urdu اچانک/ə.t͡ʃɑː.nək/ suddenly, all of a sudden #536
- Vietnamese đột[ʔɗot̚˧˨ʔ] suddenly; abruptly; promptly; unexpectedly #856
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), 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.