How to say “truly” in 39 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.
- حقا/ħaq.qan/ Arabic
- 真正/ʈ͡ʂən⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂɤŋ⁵¹/ Chinese
- ճշմարիտ/t͡ʃəʃmɑˈɾit/ Armenian
“truly” in French: vraiment · Portuguese: realmente · Chinese: 真正 · Arabic: حقا
It is commonest in Esperanto, where vere is the 86th most used word.
Truly in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic حقا/ħaq.qan/ truly, verily, in truth #120
- Armenian ճշմարիտ/t͡ʃəʃmɑˈɾit/ truly, indeed, really #236
- Basque egiaz/eɡias̻/ truly, really, actually #1,442
- Bosnian stvarno/stʋâːrno/ really, truly #107
- Bulgarian наистина[nɐˈistinɐ] really, truly #95
- Chinese 真正/ʈ͡ʂən⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂɤŋ⁵¹/ truly; really; genuinely #112
- Croatian stvarno/stʋâːrno/ really, truly #111
- Czech skutečně[ˈskutɛt͡ʃɲɛ] really, truly #796
- Danish virkelig/ˈviɐ̯ɡəli/ really, truly #158
- Dutch werkelijk/ˈʋɛr.kə.lək/ really, truly #1,272
- English indeed/ɪnˈdid/ Synonym of actually or truly #1,222
- Esperanto vere/ˈvere/ truly, really #86
- Estonian tõesti/ˈtɤe̯sti/ truly, really, indeed #119
- Finnish todella/ˈtodelːɑ/ really, for real, truly #145
- French vraiment/vʁɛ.mɑ̃/ truly, really, genuinely #101
- Galician abofé/aboˈfɛ/ truly, verily, certainly #1,434
- Georgian მართლაც[mäɾtʰɫät͡sʰ] indeed, truly #389
- Greek αλήθεια/aˈli.θça/ really, truly #116
- Hebrew ממש/maˈmaʃ/ really, very, truly #91
- Hindi सचमुच/sət͡ʃ.mʊt͡ʃ/ very truly #1,685
- Hungarian tényleg[ˈteːɲlɛɡ] really, in actuality, truly #76
- Icelandic sannarlega[ˈsan(ː)arˌlɛːɣa] truly, verily #528
- Indonesian benar-benar/bə.nar.bəˈnar/ #137
- Korean 정말[ˈt͡ɕɘ(ː)ŋma̠ɭ] really; truly #25
- Latvian patiešām/paˈtieʃaːm/ truly, really, indeed; adverbial form of… #412
- Macedonian навистина[naˈvistina] really, truly #86
- Malay benar/bəˈna(r)/ really; truly; very #226
- Norwegian virkelig/ˈvɪrkəlɪ/ really, truly #184
- Polish naprawdę/naˈprav.dɛ/ really, truly, actually #84
- Portuguese realmente/ʁeˌawˈmẽ.t͡ʃi/ truly, really, actually #404
- Romanian zău/zəw/ really, truly #1,877
- Russian действительно/dʲɪ(j)stˈvʲitʲɪlʲnə/ really, actually, truly, indeed #273
- Serbian stvarno/stʋâːrno/ really, truly #102
- Swedish verkligen/ˈvɛrklɪɡɛn/ really, truly #157
- Tagalog tunay/ˈtunaj/ truly; really #410
- Turkish cidden/ˈdʒid.dɛn/ really, seriously, truly; greatly #567
- Ukrainian справді[ˈsprau̯dʲi] indeed, really, truly #217
- Urdu واقعی/ʋɑːqɪiː/ really, truly, verily, certainly, actually,… #130
- Vietnamese quả[kwaː˧˩] really; truly #410
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 Estonian (news (et_EE), 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.