How to say “well” 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.
- bien/ˈbjen/ Spanish
- ну[nu] Russian
- حسنا/ħa.sa.nan/ Arabic
- 잘[t͡ɕa̠ɭ] Korean
- अच्छा/ət̪.t͡ʃʰɑː/ Hindi
- καλά/kaˈla/ Greek
“well” in Spanish: bien · French: bien · German: gut · Italian: bene · Portuguese: bem · Korean: 잘 · Russian: ну · Arabic: حسنا
It is commonest in Lithuanian, where gerai is the 18th most used word.
Well in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans ook/ʊə̯k/ also, too, as well #52
- Albanian mirë/ˈmiɾə/ #20
- Arabic حسنا/ħa.sa.nan/ well, fine, okay, good #37
- Armenian բարի/bɑˈɾi/ all right!, very well!, agreed!, OK #55
- Basque ondo/ondo/ well, good, alright #20
- Bengali ভালো/bʱalo/ #59
- Bosnian dobro/dǒbro/ #32
- Bulgarian добре[doˈbrɛ] #25
- Catalan bé[ˈbe] #27
- Chinese 以及/i²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡ɕi³⁵/ as well as; along with; and #242
- Croatian dobro/dǒbro/ #32
- Czech dobře[ˈdobr̝ɛ] #39
- Danish godt/ɡɔt/ #52
- Dutch goed/ɣut/ #51
- English good/ɡʊd/ Well; satisfactorily or thoroughly #71
- Esperanto bone/ˈbone/ #37
- Estonian hästi/ˈhæsti/ well, good, fine, all right #75
- Finnish hyvin/ˈhyʋin/ #70
- French bien/bjɛ̃/ #37
- Galician ben/ˈbɛŋ/ #24
- Georgian კარგი[kʼäɾɡi] nice, okay, well, good #30
- German gut/juːt/ #52
- Greek καλά/kaˈla/ #58
- Hebrew טוב/tˤoːb/ well, good #22
- Hindi अच्छा/ət̪.t͡ʃʰɑː/ #69
- Hungarian is[ˈiʃ] also, too, as well #9
- Icelandic vel[ˈvɛːl] #51
- Indonesian ya/ˈja/ well, so #23
- Italian bene/ˈbe.ne/ well, nicely, OK, right #34
- Korean 잘[t͡ɕa̠ɭ] #21
- Latvian labi/lɑbi/ well; adverbial form of labs #23
- Lithuanian gerai/ˈɡʲærɐɪ̯/ #18
- Macedonian добро[ˈdɔbrɔ] well, alright, fine, okay #25
- Malay turut/turut/ also; too; as well #1,039
- Malayalam സുഖം/suk(ʰ)ɐm/ well being #276
- Norwegian bra/brɑː/ #78
- Persian خوب[xuːb̥] #36
- Polish dobrze/ˈdɔ.bʐɛ/ #41
- Portuguese bem/ˈbẽj̃/ well; accurately; competently #21
- Romanian bine/ˈbi.ne/ #22
- Russian ну[nu] #39
- Serbian dobro/dǒbro/ #32
- Slovak dobre/ˈdɔbrɛ/ #24
- Slovenian dobro/dɔ̀ːbrɔ/ well, good #42
- Spanish bien/ˈbjen/ #26
- Swedish med/meː(d)/ also, as well, too #15
- Tagalog mabuti/maˈbuti/ well; all right #183
- Tamil நன்றாக/nɐnrɑːɡɐ/ well, in a good or beneficial manner #62
- Telugu సురక్షిత/ˈsurakˌʂita/ well guarded, secure, safe, comfortable #206
- Turkish de/dɛ/ as well, too, also #7
- Ukrainian добре[ˈdɔbre] #47
- Urdu بھی/bʱiː/ too, also, as well #28
- Vietnamese hay[haj˧˧] #112
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.