How to say “until” in 44 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.
- حتى/ħattaː/ Arabic
- 直到/ʈ͡ʂɻ̩³⁵ tɑʊ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- μέχρι/ˈmexɾi/ Greek
- עד/(ʔ)ad/ Hebrew
- մինչև/minˈt͡ʃʰev/ Armenian
- வரை/ʋɐɾɐɪ̯/ Tamil
“until” in German: bis · Portuguese: até · Chinese: 直到 · Arabic: حتى · Turkish: dek · Greek: μέχρι
It is commonest in Persian, where تا is the 17th most used word.
Until in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans tot/tɔt/ #126
- Albanian ndjerë/ndjɛɾə/ until, at, near #1,407
- Arabic حتى/ħattaː/ until, as far as, to the point of, even up to #48
- Armenian մինչև/minˈt͡ʃʰev/ as far as, till, until, to #95
- Basque arte/arte/ #77
- Bengali পর্যন্ত/pɔɾd͡ʒɔnt̪o/ till, until #152
- Bosnian dosad/dǒsad/ until now, so far, thus far #1,916
- Bulgarian досега[dosɛˈɡa] up until now, so far, heretofore #584
- Catalan fins[ˈfins] until, till #108
- Chinese 直到/ʈ͡ʂɻ̩³⁵ tɑʊ̯⁵¹/ until; up to #158
- Croatian dosad/dǒsad/ until now, so far, thus far #1,636
- Czech až[ˈaʃ] until, up #99
- Danish indtil/ˈenˀte/ until, till #363
- Dutch totdat/tɔˈdɑt/ until, till #809
- English till/tɪl/ Until; to, up to; as late as #624
- Esperanto ĝis/d͡ʒis/ #89
- Estonian homseni/ˈhomseni/ bye, see you, until tomorrow #2,205
- Finnish kunnes/ˈkunːes/ until, till #400
- Galician ata/ˈata/ until, till, up to #176
- Georgian აქამდე[äkʰämde̞] so far, until now #385
- German bis/bɪs/ #153
- Greek μέχρι/ˈmexɾi/ until; up to; as far as #140
- Hebrew עד/(ʔ)ad/ Until, till, up until #90
- Hungarian meddig[ˈmɛdːiɡ] how far? until what point? #1,107
- Icelandic uns/ʏns/ #1,303
- Indonesian hingga[ˈhiŋɡa] #582
- Italian fino/ˈfi.no/ till, until, as far as #325
- Korean 여태[jʌ̹tʰɛ] until now, so far #1,146
- Lithuanian kol/koːl/ while, as long as; until #105
- Macedonian досега[ˈdɔsɛɡa] heretofore, so far, up until now #781
- Malay sampai/sampai̯/ #185
- Norwegian inntil/ˈɪntɪl/ #1,208
- Persian تا[t̪ʰɒː] until; as far as; up to #17
- Polish aż/ˈaʂ/ #288
- Portuguese até/aˈtɛ/ #95
- Serbian dosad/dǒsad/ until now, so far, thus far #1,979
- Slovak do/ˈdɔ/ into, in, to, until #16
- Slovenian dokler/dɔklɛ́r/ #145
- Swedish tills/tɪls/ #315
- Tagalog hanggang/haŋˈɡaŋ/ until; till #190
- Tamil வரை/ʋɐɾɐɪ̯/ #61
- Turkish dek/dec/ until, till, up to #576
- Ukrainian доки[ˈdɔke] how long, until when, until what time #645
- Vietnamese chí[t͡ɕi˧˦] to; until #503
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.