How to say “surely” in 37 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 一定 is the 24th most used word.
- Afrikaans sekerlik surely, certainly #416
- Armenian հաստատ surely, certainly #220
- Basque seguru sure, surely #274
- Bengali নিশ্চিত certainly, surely, without doubt, positively #183
- Bosnian zasigurno for sure, surely #2,473
- Bulgarian сигурно surely, certainly #211
- Chinese 一定 definitely; certainly; surely; must #24
- Croatian zacijelo surely, certainly #2,263
- Czech určitě surely, definitely #277
- Danish da #76
- Dutch zeker certainly, surely #144
- Esperanto certe certainly; surely #113
- Estonian kindlasti certainly, definitely, surely #275
- Finnish varmasti certainly, definitely, surely, positively #200
- French sûrement surely, certainly #597
- German doch yes; surely; really; on the contrary #68
- Hebrew בוודאי certainly, surely, for sure #705
- Hindi ज़रूर certainly, surely #801
- Hungarian biztos surely, certainly #89
- Icelandic vissulega certainly, surely #713
- Indonesian tentu surely, certainly, of course #142
- Italian certo certainly, of course, surely, definitely #129
- Korean 꼭 absolutely; surely #162
- Latvian droši bravely, safely, surely; adverbial form of… #274
- Macedonian сигурно surely, certainly #159
- Malay tentu certainly; surely; of course #210
- Norwegian trygt surely, safely, with confidence #1,035
- Persian حتما certainly, necessarily, surely #276
- Polish pewnie surely, certainly #187
- Slovak určite certainly, surely, definitely #179
- Spanish seguramente surely, certainly #1,525
- Tagalog talaga surely; certainly; really; undoubtedly #51
- Tamil ஒன்றாக certainly, surely, positively #224
- Telugu తప్పకుండా surely, without fail #842
- Ukrainian звісно surely, definitely, of course #320
- Urdu ضرور surely, definitely #425
- Vietnamese tất then surely; of course #117
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.