How do you say ... in [your language]?

This is a handy phrase when you're learning a language or can't remember a particular word. Some of these phrases mean "What's the ... for ...?"

Language	Phrase
Afrikaans	Hoe sê u ... in Afrikaans? (formal) Hoe sê jy ... in Afrikaans? (informal)
Alastian	Wie sadd m'r...ùff Elsässisch?
Arabic	كيف تقول كلمة ... بالعربية؟ (Kaifa taqoulu kalimat ... bel arabia?)
Azerbaijani	Azərbaycanca ... necə demək lazımdır?
Basque	Nola esaten da ... euskaraz?
Breton	Petra eo ar brezhoneg evit ...?
Bulgarian	Как ще кажеш ... на български език (Kak šte kažeš ... na bãlgarski ezik)
Cape Verdean	Kumó ki bu ta fla ... na kriolu?
Catalan	Com es diu en català ...?
Chamorro	Hafa taimanu un sangan ... gi fino' Chamorro?
Chinese (Cantonese)	... 喺廣東話點講呀？ (... hái gwóngdùngwá dím góng a)
Chinese (Mandarin)	... 中文怎麼說？ [... 中文怎么说？] (... zhōngwén zěnme shuō)
Cimbrian	Bia khödet-ar ... in zimbrisch?
Croatian	Kako se kaže .... na hrvatskom?
Czech	Jak se česky řekne ... ?
Dalecarlian	Hvur segir þu ... í Dalskum?
Danish	Hvordan siger du ... på dansk?
Dutch	Hoe zeg je ... in het Nederlands? Hoe zeg ik..... in het Nederlands?
Efik	Didie afo edɔhɔ .... ke usem Efik?
Esperanto	Kiel oni diras ... en Esperanto?
Estonian	Kuidas Sa ütled ... eesti keeles?
Faroese	Hvussu sigur ein ... á føroyskum?
Finnish	Miten sanotaan ... suomeksi?
French	Comment dit-on ... en français ?
Frisian (North)	Hü säist dü ... aw Nordfrasch?
Frisian (West)	Hoe seisto ... yn it Westerlauwersk Frysk?
Friulian	Cemûd dîstu ... in furlan?
Gaelic (Irish)	Cad é atá an focal Gaeilge ar ...?
Gaelic (Manx)	Cre'n aght t'ou gra ... 'sy Ghaelg?
Gaelic (Scottish)	Ciamar a chanas tu/sibh ... ann an Gàdhlig? Dè Ghàidhlig a th'air ... ?
Georgian	როგორ იქნება ქართულად ...? (rogor iqneba qartulad ...?)
German	Wie sagt man ... auf Deutsch?
German (Berndeutsch)	Wi sagt me ... uf Bärndütsch?
German (Hessian)	Wie sagt mer ... uff Hessisch?
German (Kölsch)	Wie säät mer ... op Kölsch?
German (Low German)	Wo seggs du ... in Plattdüütsch?
German (Plautdietsch)	Woo sajt maun ... op Plauttdietsch?
German (Swabian)	Wia secht mr ... uf Schwäbisch?
German (Viennese)	Wia sogt ma ... auf Weanerisch?
German (Volhynian)	Wie sagt man ... auf Woliniendeitsch?
Greek	Πῶς λὲς ... στὰ ἑλληνικά; (Pós les ... sta eliniká?) - inf Πῶς λέτε ... στὰ ἑλληνικά; (Pós lété ... sta eliniká?) - frm
Haitian Creole	Kijan ou di...an kreyol?
Hebrew	(Eych omrim be'ivrit ...?) איך אומרים בעברית ...?
Hindi	हिंदी में ... कैसे कह्ते हैं \| (Hindi mein ... kaisey kahtey hain?)
Hungarian	Hogyan mondjam magyarul ... ?
Icelandic	Hvernig segir maður ... á íslensku?
Indonesian	Bagaimana cara mengatakan ... dalam bahasa Indonesia?
Inuktitut	...ᓂ ... ᖃᓄᖅ ᐅᖃᐅᓯᖃᖅᐱᑦ? ...ni ... qanuq uqauhiqaqpin?/uqausiqaqpit?
Italian	Come si dice ... in italiano?
Italian (Roman dialect)	Come sse dice ... ('n) in romanesco?
Japanese	．．．を日本語で何と言いますか。 (...o nihongo de nanto īmasu ka?)
Kazakh	... қазақша қалай айтылады? (... qazaqşa qalay aytıladı?)
Klamath	waq dal ?i gee ?ewksiknii ?elGank
Latvian	Kā jūs latviski sakāt ...?
Limburgish	Wie zaes doe ... in Limburgs?
Lithuanian	Kaip lietuviškai pasakyti ...?
Luxembourgish	Wéi seet een ... op Lëtzebuergesch?
Macedonian	Како се вели ... на македонски? (Kako se veli ... na makedonski?)
Malay	Bagaimana anda cakap .... dalam bahasa Melayu? Apa bahasa Malaysianya ...?
Maltese	Kif tghid ... bil-Malti?
Mayan (Yucatec)	Bix u ya'ala'al ... ich Maya?
Norwegian	Hvordan sier du ... på norsk?
Occitan	Cossí se ditz ... en occitan?
Persian	(shoma ... ro be farsi chi migin) شما ... رو به فارسی چی ميگين؟
Polish	Jak się mówi...po polsku?
Portuguese	Como se diz ... em português?
Romanian	Cum se spune...în limba română?
Russian	Как сказать ... по-русски? (Kak skazat' ... po-russki?)
Samoan	Pe faapefea e te fai ... i le gagana faasamoa?
Scots	Haw dae ye say ... in Scots?
Serbian	Како се каже на српском ... (Kako se kaže na srpskom...)
Slovak	Ako sa po slovensky povie ...?
Slovenian	Kako se reče po slovensko ...?
Spanish	¿Cómo se dice ... en español?
Stellingwarfs	Hoe zej' ... in Stellingwarfs?
Swahili	Unasemaje ... kwa Kiswahili?
Swedish	Hur säger man ... på svenska?
Tagalog	Paano mo sabihin ang ... sa tagalog?
Thai	ภาษาไทย ... พูดว่าอย่างไร (pah-sah tai ... pôot wâh yung-ngai)
Tigrinya	እዚ እንታይ ይበሃል (ብትግሪኛ)? (əzi əntay ybehal (btgrinya)?)
Tsez	Шов ... цез мецрехор йолъ? (Šow ... cez mecrexor yoł?)
Turkish	Türkçe'de ... nasıl denir?
Ukrainian	Як сказати українською ...? (Jak skazaty ukrajinsʼkoju ...?)
Urdu	(āp ... ko Urdu main isae kehte hain?) آپ ... اردو میں اسےکیا کہتےہیں
Uzbek	... O'zbek tilida qanday aytiladi?
Venetian	Come se dixe ... in vèneto?
Vietnamese	Bạn nói ... thế nào trong tiếng Việt?
Welsh	Beth ydy'r Cymraeg am ... ?
Xhosa	Uthini …ngesiXhosa?
Yiddish	(Vi zogt men ... oyf Yidiš?) װי זאָגט מען ... אויף ייִדיש?
Zulu	... ukusho kanjani ngesiZulu?

If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, please contact me. If you can provide audio recordings of any of these phrases, please send them to

You can send me audio files in any format. If you don't know how to make recordings on a computer, you can send me recordings on audio cassette. Let me know if you want to do this and I'll send you my snailmail address. Or you can call me on Skype (omniglot) and I'll do the recording.

Other phrases