How to say “theory” in 32 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.
- teoría/teoˈɾia/ Spanish
- نظرية/na.ðˤa.rij.ja/ Arabic
- θεωρία/θeoˈria/ Greek
- கோட்பாடு/koːʈpɑːɖɯ/ Tamil
- സിദ്ധാന്തം/sid̪d̪(ʱ)aːn̪d̪am/ Malayalam
- теорія[teˈɔrʲijɐ] Ukrainian
“theory” in Spanish: teoría · French: théorie · German: theorie · Italian: teoria · Portuguese: teoria · Arabic: نظرية · Greek: θεωρία
It is commonest in Slovenian, where teorija is the 916th most used word.
Theory in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic نظرية/na.ðˤa.rij.ja/ #1,204
- Bosnian teorija/teǒːrija/ #2,000
- Bulgarian теория[tɛˈɔrijɐ] #1,556
- Catalan teoria/teuˈɾiə/ #1,449
- Croatian teorija/teǒːrija/ #1,858
- Czech teorie[ˈtɛorɪjɛ] #1,909
- Danish teori[tˢeoˈʁiˀː] #2,063
- Dutch theorie/teː.oːˈri/ #1,658
- Estonian teooria/teˈoːriɑ̯/ #1,440
- French théorie/te.ɔ.ʁi/ #1,846
- Galician teoría/teoˈɾia/ #2,009
- German theorie/te.oˈʁiː/ #2,384
- Greek θεωρία/θeoˈria/ #1,549
- Icelandic kenning[ˈcʰɛn(ː)iŋk] #2,380
- Italian teoria/te.oˈri.a/ #1,792
- Latvian teorija/ˈteorija/ #2,364
- Lithuanian teorija[tʲɛ.ˈɔrʲɪjɛ] #1,424
- Macedonian теорија[tɛˈɔɾi(j)a] #1,522
- Malayalam സിദ്ധാന്തം/sid̪d̪(ʱ)aːn̪d̪am/ #1,381
- Norwegian idé/ɪˈdeː/ idea, theory #567
- Portuguese teoria/te.oˈɾi.ɐ/ #1,682
- Romanian teoria/ˈteoɾja/ #2,115
- Serbian teorija/teǒːrija/ #1,960
- Slovak teória/teɔːria/ #1,277
- Slovenian teorija/tɛɔríːja/ #916
- Spanish teoría/teoˈɾia/ #1,858
- Swedish lära/ˈlæːˌra/ a scientific branch, a theory #536
- Tagalog teorya/teˈoɾja/ #1,596
- Tamil கோட்பாடு/koːʈpɑːɖɯ/ #1,857
- Ukrainian теорія[teˈɔrʲijɐ] #2,391
- Urdu نظریہ/nə.zə.ɾɪ.jɑː/ #1,152
- Vietnamese thuyết[tʰwiət̚˧˦] doctrine; theory #765
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), 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.