How to say “tell” in 42 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.
- 告訴/kɑʊ̯⁵¹ su¹/ Chinese
- बताओ/bə.t̪ɑː.oː/ Hindi
- გითხრა[ɡ̊itʰχɾä] Georgian
- بتانا/bɪ.t̪ɑː.nɑː/ Urdu
“tell” in German: erzählt · Italian: raccontato · Portuguese: conta · Chinese: 告訴 · Hindi: बताओ
It is commonest in Slovak, where povedať is the 85th most used word.
Tell in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans vertel/fərˈtæl/ to tell #91
- Armenian պատմել/pɑtˈmel/ to relate, tell, narrate, recount #732
- Basque esan/es̺an/ to say, tell #14
- Bengali জানানো/d͡ʒanano/ to inform, to tell, to let know #921
- Bosnian pričati/prǐːt͡ʃati/ to narrate, tell #701
- Bulgarian кажа[ˈkaʒɐ] to say, to tell #111
- Chinese 告訴/kɑʊ̯⁵¹ su¹/ to tell; to inform #206
- Croatian pričati/prǐːt͡ʃati/ to narrate, tell #592
- Danish fortælle/fɔˈtɛlˀə/ to tell, to report #226
- Dutch zei/zɛi̯/ to say, tell #104
- Esperanto diris/ˈdiris/ to say, tell #68
- Finnish sanoi/ˈsɑnoi̯/ to say, tell #157
- French dit/di/ to say, to tell #70
- Georgian გითხრა[ɡ̊itʰχɾä] to tell #429
- German erzählt/ɛɐ̯ˈt͡sɛːlt/ to tell, to narrate, to recount #478
- Greek πω/ˈpo/ to say, tell #113
- Hebrew אומר/omeʁ/ to say, tell #83
- Hindi बताओ/bə.t̪ɑː.oː/ to tell, explain #227
- Hungarian mondta[ˈmontɒ] to say, tell #109
- Icelandic segja[ˈseija] to say, to tell #57
- Indonesian bercanda[bərˈt͡ʃanda] to joke, to tell a joke, to make a joke #498
- Italian raccontato/rakːonˈtato/ to tell, to narrate, to recount, to relate #2,219
- Latvian teica/ˈteit͡sa/ to say, to tell #151
- Lithuanian pasakyti[pɐsɐ¹ˈkʲiːtʲɪ] to say, to tell #118
- Macedonian рече[ˈrɛt͡ʃɛ] to say, utter, tell #120
- Malay beritahu/bəritahu/ to inform; to tell; to notify #98
- Malayalam പറഞ്ഞു/pɐrɐɲɲu/ to say, to tell #40
- Polish mówi/ˈmu.vi/ to say, to tell #195
- Portuguese conta/ˈkõ.tɐ/ to tell #356
- Romanian zi/ˈzi/ to say, tell #179
- Russian сказать[skaˈzatʲ] to say, to tell #121
- Serbian pričati/prǐːt͡ʃati/ to narrate, tell #872
- Slovak povedať/pɔvedac/ to tell #85
- Spanish decir/deˈθiɾ/ to say, to tell #111
- Swedish berätta/bɛˈrɛtːa/ to tell #167
- Tagalog magsabi/maɡˈsabi/ to say; to tell #1,017
- Tamil சொல்ல/tʃollɐ/ to say, speak, tell, utter, mention, express #319
- Telugu చెప్పారు/ˈceppaːru/ to say, tell #74
- Turkish söyle/søjˈle/ to say, to tell #171
- Ukrainian сказати[skɐˈzate] to say, to tell #158
- Urdu بتانا/bɪ.t̪ɑː.nɑː/ to tell, to inform #473
- Vietnamese điều[ʔɗiəw˨˩] something to say or tell #81
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) 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.