However in Different Languages
Discover 'However' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word 'however' is a small yet powerful term that signifies a shift in thought or perspective. It's a word that is used to introduce a contrasting idea or statement, making it an essential part of our daily communication. Its cultural importance is evident in its widespread use in literature, media, and everyday conversations around the world.
Moreover, understanding the translation of 'however' in different languages can provide valuable insights into the nuances of various cultures. For instance, in Spanish, 'sin embargo' is used to express 'however', while in French, 'Cependant' is the term of choice. In German, 'Allerdings' is the word that corresponds to 'however', and in Japanese, 'でも' (Demo) is used to convey the same meaning.
So, whether you're a language enthusiast, a world traveler, or simply looking to expand your cultural knowledge, learning the translation of 'however' in different languages can be a fun and enlightening experience. Keep reading to discover more translations and fascinating cultural insights!
However
However in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | egter | ||
| The word "egter" comes from the Dutch word "echter" which means "indeed", "on the other hand" or "but" | |||
| Amharic | ሆኖም | ||
| ሆኖም also means "in turn" or "then" in Amharic. | |||
| Hausa | duk da haka | ||
| Duk da haka may also means nevertheless and nonetheless in English. | |||
| Igbo | otú ọ dị | ||
| The Igbo term Otú ọ dị may also denote an instance in which something is carried out and accomplished with relative ease. | |||
| Malagasy | na izany aza | ||
| The Malagasy word "na izany aza" is derived from "na", which means "and" or "or," and "izany", meaning "that" or "this," indicating an alternative or additional concept. | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | komabe | ||
| In Chichewa, komabe means something else depending on the context of the sentence | |||
| Shona | zvisinei | ||
| Zvisinei (however) is often used in situations where the previous information is either repeated or modified. | |||
| Somali | sikastaba | ||
| The word "sikastaba" can also mean "so that" in the Somali language. | |||
| Sesotho | leha ho le joalo | ||
| The word "leha ho le joalo" in Sesotho can also mean "in the meantime" or "in this case". | |||
| Swahili | hata hivyo | ||
| Derived from the Arabic "haatha" meaning "that" and the Swahili "hivyo" meaning "in that way", "hata hivyo" thus means "nevertheless" or "in spite of that". | |||
| Xhosa | nangona kunjalo | ||
| Also a common greeting in the morning, when translated literally as "it is such and such". | |||
| Yoruba | sibẹsibẹ | ||
| Sibẹsibẹ has been used as a Yoruba conjunction for at least 600 years, and is likely a semantic borrowing from the Edo language. | |||
| Zulu | kodwa | ||
| The word "kodwa" in Zulu also means "but" or "instead". | |||
| Bambara | nka | ||
| Ewe | gake la | ||
| Kinyarwanda | ariko | ||
| Lingala | kasi | ||
| Luganda | naye | ||
| Sepedi | le ge go le bjalo | ||
| Twi (Akan) | mmom | ||
However in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | ومع ذلك | ||
| The Arabic word "ومع ذلك" is derived from "مع" (with) and "ذلك" (that), and can also mean "besides" or "in addition". | |||
| Hebrew | למרות זאת | ||
| "למרות זאת" consists from "למראית" and "אות", it initially meant "seemingly" in spite of something | |||
| Pashto | په هرصورت | ||
| The Pashto word "په هرصورت" is a cognate of the Arabic and Persian word "بهر صورت" with the same meaning. | |||
| Arabic | ومع ذلك | ||
| The Arabic word "ومع ذلك" is derived from "مع" (with) and "ذلك" (that), and can also mean "besides" or "in addition". | |||
However in Western European Languages
| Albanian | sidoqoftë | ||
| Sidoqoftë is thought to derive from the Middle Albanian "sidho qofta," meaning "let it be so". | |||
| Basque | hala ere | ||
| "Hala ere" is the union of "hala" (now) and "ere" (this), so it literally means "this now." | |||
| Catalan | malgrat això | ||
| "Malgrat" means "bad will" and "això" is a pronoun meaning "this". "Malgrat això" literally means "in spite of this", or "nevertheless". | |||
| Croatian | međutim | ||
| The word 'međutim' derives from the Proto-Slavic root *medju- meaning 'middle, between, | |||
| Danish | imidlertid | ||
| The word "imidlertid" is similar to the German "indemittelst", meaning "in the meantime." | |||
| Dutch | echter | ||
| The Dutch word "echter" can also mean "genuine" or "authentic", derived from the Middle Dutch word "echt" meaning "real". | |||
| English | however | ||
| The word 'however' originally meant 'at any rate' or 'nevertheless' and was first used in the 14th century. | |||
| French | toutefois | ||
| "Toutefois" comes from the union of "toute" (all) + "fois" (time), meaning "at any time" or "nevertheless." | |||
| Frisian | lykwols | ||
| Lykwols is a Frisian word that derives from the Old Frisian word 'likwols' and has the same meaning. | |||
| Galician | con todo | ||
| In medieval Galicia "con todo" also meant "with the help of, due to," and was synonymous with the phrase "per causa de". | |||
| German | jedoch | ||
| "Doch" dates back to the Middle High German word "doch", which is related to the Latin word "tamen", meaning "yet". The "je" prefix intensi | |||
| Icelandic | þó | ||
| The Icelandic word "þó" can also mean "even if" or "although" and its etymology is related to the Proto-Indo-European root "*to" which also gave rise to the English "though". | |||
| Irish | ach | ||
| The Irish word "ach" originated from "achad" (field, place). In time, its usage changed, acquiring the sense of "anyway" or "however." | |||
| Italian | però | ||
| "Però" also means "although" and is sometimes interchangeable with "ma" in this sense. | |||
| Luxembourgish | awer | ||
| The word "awer" also means "but", indicating a contrast between two clauses. | |||
| Maltese | madankollu | ||
| Maltese "madankollu" comes from the Sicilian "madannacallu", "nevertheless". | |||
| Norwegian | men | ||
| In Norwegian, "men" also means "but", "yet" and "however". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | contudo | ||
| As an archaic adverb "contudo" is a conjunction of "com" and "tudo" (with, all) meaning "with all". | |||
| Scots Gaelic | ge-tà | ||
| The phrase "ge-tà" is often used to introduce a statement that contrasts with the preceding one. | |||
| Spanish | sin embargo | ||
| The Spanish word 'sin embargo' is formed from two different words that mean 'without' (sin) and 'obstacle' (embargo). Therefore, 'sin embargo' can also mean 'without obstacle', which is similar to its original Catalan meaning. | |||
| Swedish | i alla fall | ||
| The Swedish phrase 'i alla fall' literally translates to 'in all cases' | |||
| Welsh | fodd bynnag | ||
However in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | аднак | ||
| The word “аднак” in Belarusian has roots in Old Church Slavonic and originally meant “but,” “nevertheless.” | |||
| Bosnian | kako god | ||
| The word "kako god" comes from the Old Slavic word "kakъ", which also meant "as" and "how". | |||
| Bulgarian | въпреки това | ||
| The word "въпреки това" can also mean "nevertheless" or "notwithstanding" in Bulgarian. | |||
| Czech | nicméně | ||
| In older Czech texts, this word also meant "nevertheless" | |||
| Estonian | kuid | ||
| The word "kuid" in Estonian can also be used to indicate a condition or a contrast. | |||
| Finnish | kuitenkin | ||
| kuitenkin's derivation is obscure, possibly from the Germanic word *khwitikinan, related to English 'what kind' | |||
| Hungarian | azonban | ||
| The word "azonban" is derived from the older Hungarian word "azombann", meaning "that side", indicating the adversative meaning of "however". | |||
| Latvian | tomēr | ||
| The word "tomēr" can also mean "yet" or "but" in Latvian. | |||
| Lithuanian | vis dėlto | ||
| The word "vis dėlto" is a compound word, consisting of the words "vis" (meaning "all") and "dėlto" (meaning "for this reason"). | |||
| Macedonian | сепак | ||
| The word "сепак" in Macedonian can also mean "nevertheless" or "in any case". | |||
| Polish | jednak | ||
| In Polish, "jednak" also means "similar" or "uniform" and is related to the word "jedność" ("unity"). | |||
| Romanian | in orice caz | ||
| The Romanian word "în orice caz" can also mean "anyway" or "in any case". | |||
| Russian | тем не мение | ||
| The expression «тем не менее» is a stable combination and means «in spite of this», «despite this». | |||
| Serbian | међутим | ||
| The word 'Међутим' is also used to introduce an objection or argument, translating to 'but' or 'yet'. | |||
| Slovak | však | ||
| Slovak "však" is cognate with Polish "wszak" (meaning “after all, anyway, however”), Czech "však" and Russian "ведь" (meaning “indeed, after all”). It may also be related to the Proto-Slavic "*vьsakъ", meaning "everyone, every" and to the word "vsak" in Slovenian (meaning "each") although the etymological relationship with the latter is unclear. | |||
| Slovenian | vendar | ||
| The word "vendar" in Slovenian also means "but" and is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "vьnьdь", meaning "apart" or "aside". | |||
| Ukrainian | однак | ||
| The Ukrainian word "однак" has the same origin with "one" in English, so its meaning can be interpreted as "as one." | |||
However in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | যাহোক | ||
| The Bengali word 'যাহোক' can also mean 'nevertheless,' 'in spite of that,' or 'regardless.' | |||
| Gujarati | જોકે | ||
| "જોકે" can also mean "though" or "yet." | |||
| Hindi | तथापि | ||
| "तथा" means "thus" and "पि" is a quotative particle used to introduce a citation or quote. So "तथापि" literally means "thus, indeed". | |||
| Kannada | ಆದಾಗ್ಯೂ | ||
| Malayalam | എന്നിരുന്നാലും | ||
| Marathi | तथापि | ||
| In some contexts, तथापि can also mean "consequently" or "therefore". | |||
| Nepali | यद्यपि | ||
| The word "यद्यपि" is derived from the Sanskrit word "यत्" (which) and "अपि" (even) and can also mean "although" or "even though". | |||
| Punjabi | ਪਰ | ||
| "ਪਰ" in Punjabi is also the name for 'a feather,' 'a wing' and 'a leaf.' | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | කෙසේවෙතත් | ||
| කෙසේවෙතත් is derived from the Sanskrit word तथापि (tathāpi), which means "and yet, still" or "even so". In Sinhala, it can mean "however, nevertheless, still, yet, in any case". | |||
| Tamil | எனினும் | ||
| Telugu | అయితే | ||
| The word "అయితే" could also mean "by the way" or "incidentally". | |||
| Urdu | البتہ | ||
| The word البتہ, which means "however" in Urdu, also has the alternate meaning of "definitely" or "surely". | |||
However in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 然而 | ||
| "然而" (rú'ér) also means "but" or "on the contrary," and is often used to introduce a contrasting statement. | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 然而 | ||
| 然而的「然」字有「必然」之意，所以原本表示「果真如此」的意思。 | |||
| Japanese | しかしながら | ||
| In Japanese, the word しかしながら is a conjunctive adverb and means "however, but, or nevertheless". | |||
| Korean | 하나 | ||
| The word "하나" in Korean can also mean "one" or "a unit". | |||
| Mongolian | гэсэн хэдий ч | ||
| The Mongolian word "Гэсэн хэдий ч" is also used as a polite refusal, meaning "I'm sorry, but I can't do that." | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | သို့သော် | ||
However in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | namun | ||
| The Indonesian word "namun" derives from Sanskrit "na" (not) and "mun" (to think), and originally meant "not thinking" or "doubtful". | |||
| Javanese | nanging | ||
| The word "nanging" in Javanese derives from the Sanskrit word "nayan", meaning "eye", and can also be used as an interjection to express surprise or anger. | |||
| Khmer | ទោះយ៉ាងណា | ||
| Lao | ເຖິງຢ່າງໃດກໍ່ຕາມ | ||
| The expression can be used to add an additional thought to a previous statement or clause even when the statements are opposing. | |||
| Malay | namun begitu | ||
| The Malay phrase "namun begitu" can also be used to mean "but even so" or "nevertheless." | |||
| Thai | อย่างไรก็ตาม | ||
| อย่างไรก็ตาม means "nevertheless" or "but" in Thai and is a loanword from the Chinese phrase "zěn yàng yě". | |||
| Vietnamese | tuy nhiên | ||
| Tuy nhiên can also mean "actually", "on the other hand", "although", or "nonetheless". | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | gayunpaman | ||
However in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | lakin | ||
| The word "lakin" in Azerbaijani, meaning "however", is derived from the Persian word "lākin", originally meant "but" or "still". | |||
| Kazakh | дегенмен | ||
| In the Kipchak languages, 'degenmen' literally means 'let it be' from the 3rd person singular imperative form of the verb 'demek' ('to say'). | |||
| Kyrgyz | бирок | ||
| "Бирок "also means "but". In the Chüy dialect it is used in the meaning of "since", as well. | |||
| Tajik | аммо | ||
| The word "аммо" in Tajik is derived from the Persian word "amma" and means "in any case, regardless of circumstances". | |||
| Turkmen | şeýle-de bolsa | ||
| Uzbek | ammo | ||
| When used without other words, it means "I agree". | |||
| Uyghur | قانداقلا بولمىسۇن | ||
However in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | akā naʻe | ||
| 'Akā naʻe' is a Hawaiian phrase that originally meant 'but now' and evolved to mean 'however,' 'but,' 'yet,' or 'notwithstanding.' | |||
| Maori | heoi | ||
| "Heoi" also means "nevertheless", "in spite of that", or "despite that". | |||
| Samoan | ae ui i lea | ||
| The full phrase is "ae ui i lea", translating to "so that it may be seen" or "in order to observe". | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | subalit | ||
| Subalit means not only "however" but also "but" and "on the other hand" | |||
However in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | ukampirus | ||
| Guarani | upéicharamo jepe | ||
However in International Languages
| Esperanto | tamen | ||
| The Esperanto word tamen is derived from the Latin word tamen, which also means 'however'. | |||
| Latin | autem | ||
| The Latin conjunction autem can also mean "furthermore", "on the other hand", or "but" and is used to join two statements with contrasting viewpoints or ideas. | |||
However in Others Languages
| Greek | ωστόσο | ||
| The word "ωστόσο" is derived from the ancient Greek "ὡς" (as) and "τόσος" (so much), implying a contrasting relationship. | |||
| Hmong | txawm li cas los xij | ||
| Txawm li cas los xij is composed of the words txawm (“even if”) and li cas los (“like this” or “this way”) and is usually translated as “however” or “nevertheless.” | |||
| Kurdish | lebê | ||
| The Kurdish word "lebê" is derived from the Persian word "ba'd az ānjā" which means "after that" or "thereafter". | |||
| Turkish | ancak | ||
| In Old Turkic, "ancak" meant "to be free, to be liberated." | |||
| Xhosa | nangona kunjalo | ||
| Also a common greeting in the morning, when translated literally as "it is such and such". | |||
| Yiddish | אָבער | ||
| The Yiddish word "אָבער" derives from the German "aber" and can also mean "but". | |||
| Zulu | kodwa | ||
| The word "kodwa" in Zulu also means "but" or "instead". | |||
| Assamese | অৱশ্যে | ||
| Aymara | ukampirus | ||
| Bhojpuri | हालांकि | ||
| Dhivehi | އެހެނެއްކަމަކު | ||
| Dogri | उं'आं | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | gayunpaman | ||
| Guarani | upéicharamo jepe | ||
| Ilocano | nupay kasta | ||
| Krio | bɔt | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | هەرچۆنێک بێت | ||
| Maithili | यद्यपि | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯑꯗꯨꯝ ꯑꯣꯏꯅꯃꯛ | ||
| Mizo | engpawhnise | ||
| Oromo | haa ta'u malee | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ତଥାପି | ||
| Quechua | hinaspapas | ||
| Sanskrit | तथापि | ||
| Tatar | шулай да | ||
| Tigrinya | ዋላኳ ተኾነ | ||
| Tsonga | hambiswiritano | ||