Ask in Different Languages
Discover 'Ask' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Ask
Afrikaans vra | ||
Albanian pyesni | ||
Amharic ብለህ ጠይቅ | ||
Arabic يطلب | ||
Armenian հարցրեք | ||
Assamese সোধা | ||
Aymara jiskhiña | ||
Azerbaijani soruşun | ||
Bambara ka ɲininka | ||
Basque galdetu | ||
Belarusian спытайцеся | ||
Bengali জিজ্ঞাসা | ||
Bhojpuri पूछल | ||
Bosnian pitajte | ||
Bulgarian питам | ||
Catalan preguntar | ||
Cebuano pangutana | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 问 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 問 | ||
Corsican dumandà | ||
Croatian pitajte | ||
Czech zeptat se | ||
Danish spørge | ||
Dhivehi އެހުން | ||
Dogri पुच्छो | ||
Dutch vragen | ||
English ask | ||
Esperanto demandi | ||
Estonian küsima | ||
Ewe bia | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) magtanong | ||
Finnish kysyä | ||
French demander | ||
Frisian freegje | ||
Galician preguntar | ||
Georgian იკითხა | ||
German fragen | ||
Greek παρακαλώ | ||
Guarani jerure | ||
Gujarati પુછવું | ||
Haitian Creole mande | ||
Hausa tambaya | ||
Hawaiian e nīnau | ||
Hebrew לִשְׁאוֹל | ||
Hindi पूछना | ||
Hmong nug | ||
Hungarian kérdez | ||
Icelandic spyrja | ||
Igbo jụọ | ||
Ilocano agdamag | ||
Indonesian meminta | ||
Irish iarr | ||
Italian chiedi | ||
Japanese 尋ねる | ||
Javanese takon | ||
Kannada ಕೇಳಿ | ||
Kazakh сұра | ||
Khmer សួរ | ||
Kinyarwanda baza | ||
Konkani विचारप | ||
Korean 물어보기 | ||
Krio aks | ||
Kurdish pirsîn | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) پرسیارکردن | ||
Kyrgyz сура | ||
Lao ຖາມ | ||
Latin quaerere | ||
Latvian jautāt | ||
Lingala kotuna | ||
Lithuanian paklausti | ||
Luganda okubuuza | ||
Luxembourgish froen | ||
Macedonian прашај | ||
Maithili पूछू | ||
Malagasy anontanio | ||
Malay tanya | ||
Malayalam ചോദിക്കുക | ||
Maltese staqsi | ||
Maori pātai | ||
Marathi विचारा | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯍꯪꯕ | ||
Mizo zawt | ||
Mongolian асуу | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) မေး | ||
Nepali सोध्नु | ||
Norwegian spørre | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) funsani | ||
Odia (Oriya) ପଚାର | | ||
Oromo gaafachuu | ||
Pashto پوښتنه وکړه | ||
Persian پرسیدن | ||
Polish zapytać | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) perguntar | ||
Punjabi ਪੁੱਛੋ | ||
Quechua tapuy | ||
Romanian cere | ||
Russian просить | ||
Samoan fesili | ||
Sanskrit पृच्छतु | ||
Scots Gaelic faighnich | ||
Sepedi kgopela | ||
Serbian питати | ||
Sesotho botsa | ||
Shona bvunza | ||
Sindhi پڇو | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) අහන්න | ||
Slovak opýtať sa | ||
Slovenian vprašajte | ||
Somali weydii | ||
Spanish pedir | ||
Sundanese naroskeun | ||
Swahili uliza | ||
Swedish fråga | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) tanungin mo | ||
Tajik пурсед | ||
Tamil கேளுங்கள் | ||
Tatar сора | ||
Telugu అడగండి | ||
Thai ถาม | ||
Tigrinya ሕተት | ||
Tsonga vutisa | ||
Turkish sor | ||
Turkmen sora | ||
Twi (Akan) bisa | ||
Ukrainian запитати | ||
Urdu پوچھیں | ||
Uyghur سوراڭ | ||
Uzbek so'rang | ||
Vietnamese hỏi | ||
Welsh gofynnwch | ||
Xhosa buza | ||
Yiddish פרעגן | ||
Yoruba beere | ||
Zulu buza |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word "vra" in Afrikaans stems from the Dutch word "vragen," meaning "to ask" or "to question." |
| Albanian | The word "pyesi" in Albanian, meaning "to ask," originates from the Proto-Indo-European root "*preḱ-," indicating a request or demand. |
| Amharic | The phrase "ብለህ ጠይቅ" can also mean "to be frank" or "to be honest." |
| Arabic | Originally يطلب meant "to strive for" or "to try to obtain" something. |
| Armenian | The Armenian word "հարցրեք" derives from the Indo-European root "*kʷer-", meaning "to turn, to bend". |
| Azerbaijani | The word "soruşun" in Azerbaijani can also refer to an investigation or inquiry. |
| Basque | "Gald" in galdetu is also found in galdu ("lose"). |
| Belarusian | The word "спытайцеся" is the imperative form of the verb "пытаць", which also means "to torture" or "to experiment". |
| Bengali | The word "জিজ্ঞাসা" (jijnasa) is derived from the Sanskrit word "jijnasa," which means "inquiry" or "investigation." |
| Bosnian | The word "pitajte" in Bosnian comes from the Proto-Slavic word "pitati", meaning "to drink," and is also related to the word "pivo", meaning "beer." |
| Bulgarian | The word “питам” can also mean “feed” in Bulgarian. |
| Catalan | "Preguntar" shares the Latin root *precare*, "to beg," with the Catalan word "pregar," which today means "to pray." |
| Cebuano | "Pangutana" is derived from the root word "pangutan" meaning "to ask questions" and "kutana" meaning "to meet". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "问" (wèn) also means "to visit" as a noun, and "to blame" as a verb. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | "問" (literally, “to request”) can also mean “to inspect,” “to visit,” “to interview,” or “to judge (a test)." |
| Corsican | In Corsican, the word "dumandà" can also mean "to demand" or "to request something with force or urgency." |
| Croatian | The word 'pitajte' is derived from the verb 'pitati' meaning 'to drink', suggesting a connection between asking and seeking nourishment. |
| Czech | The word "zeptat se" comes from the Old Czech word "zaptati se", which means "to look at". |
| Danish | "Spørge" is thought to be derived from the Old Norse "spyrja," meaning "to inquire" or "to search for information. |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "vragen" is related to the English "free" and German "fragen" and may have originally meant "to free (a way)" in Proto-Germanic. |
| Esperanto | The word “demandi” is derived from the French “demander”, which originally meant “to request” and is now used with the broader meaning of “to ask”. |
| Estonian | The word "küsima" is derived from the Proto-Finnic word "*küssämV", which also means "to inquire" or "to seek information". |
| Finnish | "Kysyä" derives from a Proto-Finnic word meaning "to request, to beg" and is related to the Karelian word "kysyi". |
| French | In Old French, "demander" meant "to tame," similar to the Italian "domandare" meaning "to subdue" or "to tame." |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "freegje" is derived from the Old Frisian "frega", which means "ask" or "question". |
| Galician | The verb "preguntar" in Galician derives from the Latin "praecogitare", meaning "to think ahead". |
| Georgian | The word "იკითხა" in Georgian is derived from the Proto-Kartvelian root *k’t’k’-, meaning "to speak". |
| German | The word "Fragen" can refer to both asking a question and the questions themselves, and is related to the Old High German "frāgēn" and Latin "frangere" (break). |
| Greek | The Greek word "παρακαλώ" originates from the Proto-Indo-European root "*prek-", which also gave rise to words such as the Latin word "precor" (to ask, beseech) and the English word "pray". The original meaning of the Greek "παρακαλώ" is likely to have been close to that of "pray" and was only later extended to include more general meanings such as "ask" and "invite." |
| Gujarati | The word "પુછવું" comes from the Sanskrit word "pṛcchati", which also means "to ask" or "to inquire". |
| Haitian Creole | The Haitian Creole verb 'mande' originates from the verb 'demander' in French, meaning 'to ask' or 'to request'. |
| Hausa | The word 'tambaya' (ask) in Hausa shares its root with the word 'tambara' (to make a riddle or puzzle). |
| Hawaiian | There is an alternate way to say "ask" in Hawaiian using the word "hoolohe," which literally translates to "to hear. |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "לִשְׁאוֹל" ("ask") also means "to borrow" or "to inquire". |
| Hindi | "पूछना" may also mean to search or request. |
| Hmong | “Nug” may derive from the word for “look”, as in asking for an item by pointing or looking at it. |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word "kérdez" originally meant "to gather", and it is related to the words "kör" (circle) and "jár" (to go). |
| Icelandic | The Icelandic word "spyrja" also means "to smell", related to the Old Norse word "spyrr" meaning "track, search". |
| Igbo | The word "jụọ" in Igbo can also mean "to inquire" or "to investigate". |
| Indonesian | "Meminta" is a word in Indonesian with Malay-Portuguese origin (pedir). In Malay, it refers to "to go to bed" or "lying on one's back (supine)" while in Portuguese it means "to ask." |
| Irish | The word 'iarr' also means 'petition' in Irish. |
| Italian | "Chiedi" is derived from the Latin quaero, which means "to seek out". |
| Japanese | The word "尋ねる" also has the alternate reading "たずねる" and can mean "to search for" or "to visit." |
| Javanese | "Takon" originates from the Sanskrit word "taksati" meaning "to carve" or "to cut". |
| Kannada | The word "ಕೇಳಿ" is also used to mean "to hear" or "to listen". |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "сұра" also means "request", "demand", or "seek". |
| Khmer | The word "សួរ" can also mean "inquire" or "question" in Khmer. |
| Korean | 물어보기 originates from the verb 물다 (put in the mouth), suggesting that asking a question involves putting the question in the mouth of the listener. |
| Kurdish | In Kurdish, 'pirsîn' not only means 'ask' but also 'search' and 'investigate'. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "сура" in Kyrgyz is likely derived from the Proto-Turkic word "sor-", which also means "to ask" in other Turkic languages. |
| Lao | Asking for someone's wellbeing is usually expressed with ຖາມ |
| Latin | The word "quaerere" was also used in Latin to mean "seek" or "inquire". |
| Latvian | The Latvian verb “jautāt” can also mean to “inquire” or “interrogate”. |
| Lithuanian | The Lithuanian verb 'paklausti' originally meant 'to hear' and is phonetically related to the German verb 'lauschen'. |
| Luxembourgish | The Middle High German word "vragen" (to ask) has been used in Luxembourgish since the 14th century |
| Macedonian | The verb 'прашај' ('ask') in Macedonian ultimately derives from the same Proto-Indo-European root as the English word 'pray' and may also mean 'to consult' or 'to beseech'. |
| Malagasy | The Malagasy word "anontanio" can also mean "demand, require, request" or "consult" and is related to the word "antoka", which means "question, inquiry, interrogation, cross-questioning, examination." |
| Malay | The Malay word "tanya" not only means "to ask" but also "to test" or "to examine". |
| Malayalam | The Malayalam word "ചോദിക്കുക" is derived from Vedic Sanskrit "pracchad" meaning "ask, inquire, request". |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "staqsi" has possible Arabic roots in "istafta", meaning to make a legal inquiry or ask someone's advice. |
| Maori | The Maori word 'pātai' also means 'to search' or 'to inquire' and is derived from the Proto-Polynesian word 'pataka', meaning 'to tell' or 'to speak'. |
| Marathi | In Marathi, "विचारा" has the alternate meaning of "to think" and can also mean "to inquire into something." |
| Mongolian | The word "асуу" can also refer to requesting, inquiring, or seeking information. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | မေး can also refer to “to request,” “to question,” and “to interrogate. |
| Nepali | "सोधी-सोध" (सो+इ)+नु is a reduplicative form found in the medieval Maithili texts. |
| Norwegian | "Spørre" likely derives from the Old Norse word "spyrja," which means "to seek out information." |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | Funsani is also the name of a traditional Nyanja dance performed during various ceremonies. |
| Persian | پرسیدن (porsidan) derives from the Old Persian verb pṛchati meaning "to speak, ask." |
| Polish | The word "zapytać" can also mean "to inquire" or "to ask for information". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word "perguntar" derives from the Latin "percontari" meaning "to inquire" and is related to the English "percuss" meaning "to strike". In Portuguese slang, "perguntar" can also mean "to bother" or "to annoy". |
| Punjabi | The word "ਪੁੱਛੋ" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂ews-, meaning "to desire" or "to wish for". |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "cere" originates from the Latin word "quaerere" (meaning "to seek" or "to ask") and has various other meanings, such as "to plead", "to inquire", or "to request."} |
| Russian | The word "просить" in Russian is cognate with the Polish word "prosić", meaning to beg or ask for something, and the Old Church Slavonic word "просити", meaning to ask or request. |
| Samoan | Although the word 'fesili' means 'to ask' in Samoan, it can also be used to mean 'to beg' or 'to request'. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Scottish Gaelic word "faighnich" is cognate with Welsh "gofynych" (ask) and Irish "feigh" (ask), which are all ultimately derived from a Celtic root meaning "request" or "entreaty". |
| Serbian | In Serbian, “питати” can mean both “to ask” and “to feed.” |
| Sesotho | The word "botsa" is also used to refer to the act of seeking or requesting something. |
| Shona | Shona word 'bvunza' originates from Proto-Bantu '*bundza', meaning 'to consult' or 'to ask' |
| Sindhi | The word "پڇو" is derived from Proto-Indo-European "*prek-," meaning "to ask, pray, question." |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | අහන්න can also mean 'to learn' or 'to study'. |
| Slovak | The term "opýtať sa" originates from a Slavic root word, which originally meant "to speak against" or "to protest. |
| Slovenian | The Slovene word "vprašajte" comes from the Proto-Slavic word *vьprašati, which is related to the Old Church Slavonic word въпрашати, meaning "to question." The same root is found in words like **vprašanje** (question) and **vpraševanje** (interrogation). |
| Somali | The word 'weydii' also derives from the term 'waydii', which means 'question'. |
| Spanish | The verb 'pedir' derives from the Latin 'petere', which means 'to ask, seek, or strive for'. It is related to the English word 'petition'. |
| Sundanese | The word "naroskeun" is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word *paR(a)sukəɲ which means "to cause to go down". |
| Swahili | The word 'uliza' in Swahili also has the alternate meaning of 'to inquire' or 'to make an enquiry'. |
| Swedish | "Fråga" is also the imperative form of the verb "fråga". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog phrase 'tanungin mo' is also used in Old Malay, where it has the dual meaning of both 'to ask' and 'to bewitch'. This suggests the possible existence of archaic animistic practices embedded within Tagalog. |
| Tajik | The word "пурсед" comes from the Old Persian word "pursidan", which also means "to examine" or "to investigate". |
| Tamil | கேளுங்கள் (Kēluṅkaḷ) is derived from the Proto-Dravidian word *kēḷ- which means 'to hear' or 'to listen'. |
| Telugu | The word "అడగండి" also means "to inquire", "to interrogate", or "to request information" in Telugu. |
| Thai | "ถาม" can also be translated as "want" in English in certain contexts |
| Turkish | Sor is a verbal noun derived from the Old Turkic verb "sur" (to ask, question), which is also the origin of the Turkish words "soru" (question) and "soruşturma" (investigation). |
| Ukrainian | "Запитати" can also mean "to start working on something" or "to light (a fire/cigarette)" in Ukrainian. |
| Urdu | پوچھیں originates from Sanskrit word 'prccha' but also means a small amount of liquid left in the bottom of a container. |
| Uzbek | "So'rang" is derived from the Persian word "su'al" and also means "question". |
| Vietnamese | Hỏi shares the same root as |
| Welsh | The Welsh word 'gofynnwch' ('ask') is a cognate of the Irish word 'fiafraigh' ('ask'), and both words ultimately derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰewḱ- ('to speak'). |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word 'buza' derives from a proto-Nguni verb 'vuza', meaning to 'poke' or 'stir' something. |
| Yiddish | פרעגן is borrowed from MHG vragēn 'to ask', and is semantically equivalent, but historically unrelated, with Yiddish פרעגן (fragen). |
| Yoruba | The word "beere" in Yoruba also means "to seek or search for". |
| Zulu | The word "buza" also has multiple other meanings and nuances, depending on the context in which it is used. |
| English | The word 'ask' originates from the Old Norse word 'áskja', meaning 'to wish for'. |