I don't understand in many languages

Cick on any of the words that are links to hear them spoken. If you can provide recordings of other languages, please send them to simon [at] omniglot.com.

Language	I don't understand
Afrikaans	Ek verstaan nie [ɛk fərstaˌn niˌ]
Albanian	Nuk kuptoj [nuk kuptoj]
Alsatian	Ich versteh nitt
Amharic	አልገባኝም (ʾälgäbañəm)
Arabic (Modern Standard)	(lā afham) لا أفهم
Arabic (Egyptian)	(ana miš fāhim) أنا مش فاهم
Arabic (Moroccan)	(mafhemtš) مافهمتش
Arabic (Syrian)	(māfhemit) مافهمت
Aragonese	No repleco
Arapaho	neihoowóé'in
Armenian (Eastern)	Չեմ հասկանում: (Chem haskanum)
Aromanian	Nu acãchisescu
Asante	Menté asé
Asturian	Nun pescancio
Azerbaijani	Mən sizi başa düşmürəm
Basque	Ez dut ulertzen
Belarusian	Не разумею (Ne razumeyu)
Bengali	বুঝতে পারি নি। (bujhte pari ni) বুঝতে পারলাম না। (bujhte parlam na)
Bosnian	Ne razumijem
Breton	Ne gomprenan ket [ne gɔ̃mpʁenãn ket]
Bulgarian	Не разбирам (Ne razbiram)
Burmese	နားမလည္ပၝဘူး။ (nà-mǎleh-ba-bù)
Cape Verdean	N ka ta konprende
Catalan	No ho entenc
Chamorro	Ti hu komprende
Chechen	Со ца кхита (So ca qiet)
Cherokee	ᏝᎢᎪᎵᎦ (tlaigoliga)
Chinese (Cantonese)	我唔明白 (ngóh m̀ mìhngbaahk)
Chinese (Hakka)	𠊎唔明白 (ngai² mm mingpakh)
Chinese (Mandarin)	我聽不懂 [我听不懂] (wǒ tīngbúdǒng) 我不懂 (wǒ búdǒng), 我不明白 (wǒ bú míngbai)
Chinese (Taiwanese)	我聽無 gua² thiaⁿ-bo⁰
Choctaw	Ak akostinincho
Comanche	Ke nu u nakisupana?itu
Cornish	Nu gonvedhas / Ne ellam convethas
Corsican	Ùn capiscu micca
Croatian	Ne razumijem
Czech	Nerozumím
Danish	Det forstår jeg ikke
Dutch	Ik begrijp het niet
Dyula	Né ta mé
Esperanto	Mi ne komprenas [mi ne kom'prenas]
Estonian	Ma ei saa aru
Faroese	Eg skilji ikki
Farsi	متوجه نمى شوم
Fijian	E sega ni macala
Finnish	En ymmärrä [ɛn 'ymːærːæ]
French	Je ne comprends pas [ʒə nə cõ'pʁɑ̃ 'pa]
Frisian (North)	Ik begrip dåt ai
Frisian (Saterfrisian)	Iek begriep dät nit
Frisian (West)	Ik begryp it net
Friulian	No capiš un dret!
Galician	Nom entendo
German	Ich verstehe nicht [ɪç fə'ʃteːə nɪçt]
Georgian	არ მესმის (ar mesmis)
Greek	Δὲν καταλαβαίνω (Den katalavéno)
Greenlandic	Paasinngilara
Guarani	Ndaikuaái la ereséva
Gujarati	સમજણ પટતી નથી (samajaṇa paṭatī nathī)
Haitian Creole	Mwen pa komprann
Hawaiian	Maopopo iaʻu ʻole
Hebrew	m - (ani loh mevin) אני לא מבין f - (ani loh mevinah) אני לא מבינה
Hindi	मैं समझ नहीं पा रहा हूँ। (Maiṁ samajh nahṁ pā rahā hūṁ) - m मैं समझ नहीं पा रही हूँ। (Maiṁ samajh nahṁ pā rahī hūṁ) - f
Hmong	Kuv tsis to-taub, Kuv tsis meej pem li
Hungarian	Nem értem
Icelandic	Ég skil það ekki
Indonesian	Saya tidak mengerti
Inuktitut	ᑐᑭᓯᓐᖏᑦᑐᖕ (Tukisinngittung)
Irish (Gaelic)	Ní thuigim Cha dtuigim (Ulster)
Italian	Non capisco Non ho capito
Italian (Roman dialect)	Nun capisco
Japanese	わかりません (wakarimasen) わからない (wakaranai) - informal
Javanese	kulo mboten mangertos
Jèrriais	Jé n'comprends pon
Karelian	Minä en ellendä
Kashubian	Jô nie rozmiejã
Kazakh	Мен түсінбеймін (Men tüsinbeymin)
Khmer	(kh'nyohm muhn yuhl te)
Kinyarwanda	Sinumva
Kiribati	I aki oota
Klingon	jIyajbe'
Komi	Ме тіянӧс ог гӧгӧрво (Me tîǎnös og gögörvo)
Korean	모르겠습니다 (moreugesseumnida)
Kurdish	تێ ناگه م
Kyrgyz	Түшүнбөдүм (Tüšünbödüm)
Lao	ບໍ່ເຂົ້າໃຈ (baw khào ja̖i)
Latin	Nullo intellego
Latvian	Es nesaprotu
Limburgish	Ich versjtaon neet, Ich begriep 't neet
Lingala	Na zali kososola té
Lithuanian	Aš nesuprantu
Livonian	Ma äb so aru
Lojban	mi na jimpe
Luganda	Ssitegeera
Luxembourgish	Ech verstinn net
Macedonian	Не разбирам (Ne razbiram)
Malagasy	Tsy azoko
Malay	Saya tidak faham
Maltese	M'inix nifhem / Mhux qiegħed nifhem / Ma nifhimx / Mhux nifhem
Manx	Cha nel mee toiggal
Māori	Kahore e mohio au / Aroha mai
Marathi	मला नाही समजत (malā nāhī samjat)
Mauritian Creole	Mo pas compran
Mohawk	Iah tewake'nikonhraien:ta's
Mongolian	Би ойлгохгүй байна (Bi oilgokhgui baina)
Mordvin	Мон тынк а чаркодян (Mon tynk a čarkodǎn)
Nenets	Ман’ сит нидм’ хамадамбю’ (Man’ sit nidm’ hamadambǔ’)
Nepali	मैले बुझिन (maile bujhina)
Norwegian	Jeg skjønner ikke / Jeg forstår ikke (Bokmål) Eg forstår ikkje (Nynorsk)
Nyanja	Sindinamve
Occitan	Compreni pas
Pashto	زه پوه نه شوم
Persian	(nemifahmam) نمي فهمم (motevajjeh nemisham) متوجه نميشم
Polish	Nie rozumiem
Portuguese	Não percebo/compreendo (Portugal) Eu não estou entendendo, Não entendi (Brazil)
Punjabi	ਮੈਂ ਨਹੀਂ ਸਮਝਦਾ (maiṅ hīṅ samajhadā)
Quechua	Mana japikkana
Quenya	umin hanyan
Romanian	Nu înţeleg
Romany	Či hačarav
Russian	Я не понимаю (Ya ne ponimaju)
Saami	Mun in ádde
Samoan	Ou te le malama lama
Sardianian	Non lu cumprendo
Scots	A dinna unnerstaund, A dinna lift
Scottish Gaelic	Chan eil mi 'tuigsinn
Serbian	Не разумем (Ne razumem)
Sesotho	Ha ke utlwisise
Shona	Handisi kunyaso nzwisisa
Sindarin	ú-chenian
Slovak	Nerozumiem
Slovenian	Ne razumem
Somali	Maan fahmin
Spanish	No entiendo No comprendo
Stellingwarfs	Ik begriep 't niet
Swahili	Sifahamu
Swazi	Angiva
Swedish	Jag förstår inte
Tagalog	Hindí ko náiintindihan
Tahitian	Aita i papu ia'u
Tamil	புரியவில்லை (puriyavillai)
Tajik	Ман намефаҳмам (Man namefaḩmam)
Tatar	Min añlamin
Tetum	Ha'u la hatene
Thai	ไม่เข้าใจ (mâi khâo jai)
Tibetan	ཧ་གོ་མ་སོང་། (ha ko-masong)
Tigrinya	ኣይተረድኣንን (ayteredann)
Tsez	Ди бич1зи рохъхāну (Di bičʼzi roqxānu)
Tswana	Ga ke tlhaloganye
Turkish	Anlamıyorum, Anlamadım
Turkmen	Мен дүшүнемок (Men düšünemok)
Udmurt	Мыным валантем (Mynym valantem)
Ukrainian	Я не розумію (Ja ne rozumiju)
Urdu	(main samjha nahin [m] / main samjhi nahin [f]) میں سمجھا نہی
Uzbek	Men tushunmayapman (frm)
Vietnamese	Tôi không hiểu
Volapük	No kapälob
Votic	Minä en eľgenda
Welsh	Dw i ddim yn deall
Xhosa	Andiva
Yiddish	(Ikh farshtey dos nit) איך פֿאַרשטיי דאָס ניט
Zulu	Angizwa

People who have contributed to this section

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