How to say “time” in 53 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.
- vez/ˈbeθ/ Spanish
- 때[t͈ɛ] Korean
- बारे/bɑː.ɾeː/ Hindi
- நேரம்/neːɾɐm/ Tamil
- സമയം/sɐmɐjɐm/ Malayalam
- وقت[væxt̪ʰ] Persian
“time” in Spanish: vez · French: temps · Italian: tempo · Portuguese: tempo · Korean: 때 · Hindi: बारे · Turkish: zaman
It is commonest in Turkish, where zaman is the 37th most used word.
Time in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans toe/ˈtu/ then; at that time; at that moment #68
- Albanian kohë/kɔhə/ #105
- Arabic قد/qad.da/ Indicates nearness in time or recentness,… #45
- Armenian հիմա/hiˈmɑ/ now, at present, at this moment in time #41
- Basque batean/batean/ at the same time #54
- Bengali ধরে/d̪ʱɔɾe/ for a period of time #134
- Bosnian vremena/ˈvrɛmɛnɐ/ #176
- Bulgarian време[ˈvrɛmɛ] #79
- Catalan a/ə/ in, at; indicating a particular time or place #6
- Chinese 一下/i⁵⁵⁻³⁵ ɕi̯ä⁵¹/ one time; once #20
- Croatian vrijeme/ʋrjěːme/ #124
- Czech čas[ˈt͡ʃas] #232
- Danish efter/ˈɛfdɐ/ after; subsequent; later in time than #83
- Dutch dan/dɑn/ then, at that time #34
- English now/naʊ/ At the present time #55
- Esperanto je/je/ Indicating a time #67
- Estonian korda/kˈord̥ɑ/ time, occasion #194
- Finnish aikaa/ˈaikaː/ #148
- French temps/tɑ̃/ #116
- Galician vez/ˈbeθ/ #79
- Georgian მაშინ[mäʃin] At the time or immediately after something… #111
- German zeit/t͡saɪ̯t/ for the entire time of, during #136
- Greek ποτέ/poˈte/ ever; at any time #82
- Hebrew פעם/ˈpa.(ʔ)am/ A time: an instance, an occurrence #86
- Hindi बारे/bɑː.ɾeː/ time, turn #62
- Hungarian akkor[ˈɒkːor] then, at that time #36
- Icelandic aldrei[ˈaltrei] never, at no time #63
- Indonesian tahun/ˈtahun/ a solar year, the time it takes the Earth to… #104
- Italian tempo/ˈtɛm.po/ #130
- Korean 때[t͈ɛ] time; occasion #60
- Latvian laiku/ˈlaiku/ time, era #154
- Lithuanian tada[tɐˈdɐ] at the time #87
- Macedonian време[ˈvrɛmɛ] #71
- Malay hari/ˈhari/ day: A period of time equal or almost equal… #64
- Malayalam സമയം/sɐmɐjɐm/ #67
- Norwegian tid/tiːd/ #170
- Persian وقت[væxt̪ʰ] #71
- Polish czas/ˈt͡ʂas/ #123
- Portuguese tempo/ˈtẽ.pu/ #102
- Romanian timp/ˈtimp/ #94
- Russian раз[ras] once, one day, once upon a time #90
- Serbian vreme/ʋrěːme/ #135
- Slovak stále/staːʎe/ always, all the time #80
- Slovenian nikoli/nikóːli/ never, at no time #77
- Spanish vez/ˈbeθ/ time, instance #71
- Swedish här/hɛːr/ here; at this time or at this place #21
- Tagalog nang/naŋ/ when, at the time of #56
- Tamil நேரம்/neːɾɐm/ #55
- Telugu ఇప్పుడు/ipːuɖu/ now, at this time #26
- Turkish zaman/zaˈman/ #37
- Ukrainian раз[raz] once, one day, once upon a time #93
- Urdu کو/koː/ in, at the time of #10
- Vietnamese lúc[lʊwk͡p̚˧˦] moment, time #144
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), 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.