How to say “understand” in 49 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.
- понять[paˈnʲætʲ] Russian
- 明白/miŋ³⁵ b̥aɪ̯³/ Chinese
- καταλαβαίνω/ka.ta.laˈve.no/ Greek
- הבין/(h)eˈvin/ Hebrew
- გაიგებს[ɡ̊äiɡe̞bs] Georgian
- հասկանում/hɑskɑˈnum/ Armenian
“understand” in French: comprends · Italian: capito · Portuguese: entendo · Chinese: 明白 · Russian: понять · Turkish: anlıyorum · Greek: καταλαβαίνω
It is commonest in Chinese, where 明白 is the 34th most used word.
Understand in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian kuptoj/kupˈtɔj/ to understand #209
- Arabic أفهم/ʔafhama/ to make understand #232
- Armenian հասկանում/hɑskɑˈnum/ to understand #243
- Basque ulertu/ulertu/ to understand #243
- Bengali বোঝা/bod͡ʒʱa/ to understand #594
- Bosnian shvatio/ˈshvatɪo/ to understand, comprehend, grasp, conceive #666
- Bulgarian разбирам[rɐzˈbirɐm] to understand, to comprehend, to make out #210
- Catalan entenc[ənˈteŋ] to understand #315
- Chinese 明白/miŋ³⁵ b̥aɪ̯³/ to understand; to know #34
- Croatian shvatio/ˈshvatɪo/ to understand, comprehend, grasp, conceive #647
- Czech chápu[ˈxaːpu] to understand #453
- Danish forstår[fʌˈsd̥ɔɐ̯ˀ] to understand #194
- Dutch begrijp/bə.ˈɣrɛi̯p/ to understand, to comprehend, to grasp #323
- English mistake[mɪˈsteɪk] To understand wrongly, taking one thing or… #740
- Esperanto komprenas/komˈprenas/ to understand, comprehend #158
- Estonian mõistma/ˈmɤi̯stmɑ/ to understand #1,465
- Finnish ymmärrän/ˈymmærræn/ to understand #354
- French comprends/kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃/ to understand, comprehend #290
- Galician entendo/enˈtendo/ to understand #442
- Georgian გაიგებს[ɡ̊äiɡe̞bs] to understand #1,365
- German kapiert/kaˈpiːɾt/ to understand intellectually; to get; to grasp #1,825
- Greek καταλαβαίνω/ka.ta.laˈve.no/ to understand, realise #286
- Hebrew הבין/(h)eˈvin/ To understand, to have understanding, to be… #1,613
- Hindi जाना/d͡ʒɑː.nɑː/ to know, comprehend, understand #113
- Hungarian érti[ˈeːrti] to understand #582
- Indonesian dimengerti/di.mə.ŋərˈti/ to understand #1,646
- Italian capito/kaˈpi.to/ to understand #284
- Latvian saprotu/ˈsapruotu/ to understand #338
- Lithuanian supratau[sʊprɐ²ˈtɒʊˑ] to perceive, to get it; to understand #190
- Macedonian разбира[ˈrazbiɾa] to understand, comprehend #262
- Malay difahami/difaˈhami/ to understand the meaning of something #1,929
- Malayalam മനസ്സിലാക്കുക/mɐnɐssilaːkkuɡɐ/ to understand; find out #2,318
- Norwegian forstår/fɔʂˈʈoːr/ to understand #201
- Persian بفهمم/befæhmæm/ to understand #768
- Polish rozumiem/rɔzˈu.mjɛm/ to understand #207
- Portuguese entendo/ẽˈtẽ.du/ to understand, to grasp, to comprehend #701
- Romanian înțeleg[ɨnt͡seˈleɡ] to understand #2,330
- Russian понять[paˈnʲætʲ] to understand, to comprehend, to see #549
- Serbian shvatio/ˈshvatɪo/ to understand, comprehend, grasp, conceive #669
- Slovak nerozumiem/ˈɲɛrɔzumi̯ɛm/ I don't understand #508
- Slovenian razumeti/razumèːti/ to understand #483
- Spanish sé/ˈse/ to know, to understand #55
- Swedish förstår/ˈfœʂtoːr/ to understand #160
- Tagalog intindihin/ʔintindiˈhin/ to try to understand; to make an effort to… #1,721
- Tamil அறிவேன்/ɐrɪʋeːn/ to know, understand, recognize, perceive by… #1,405
- Turkish anlıyorum/anˈɫɯjoɾum/ To understand, to comprehend, to get #358
- Ukrainian зрозуміти[zrɔzʊˈmʲite] to grasp, to understand, to comprehend #771
- Urdu جاننا/d͡ʒɑːn.nɑː/ to know, comprehend, understand #384
- Vietnamese hiểu[hiəw˧˩] to understand, to know #158
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.