If in Different Languages
Discover 'If' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The word
If
If in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | as | ||
| In Afrikaans, "as" can also mean "how" or "like". | |||
| Amharic | ከሆነ | ||
| The Amharic word "ከሆነ" can also mean "because" or "since". | |||
| Hausa | idan | ||
| Idan also means "whether" and, in some contexts, "when". | |||
| Igbo | ọ bụrụ | ||
| Ọ bụrụ also means 'because' and is used before a dependent clause. | |||
| Malagasy | raha | ||
| RAHA also means 'if' in the conditional perfect tense, and 'maybe' or 'perhaps' when used in the present tense. | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | ngati | ||
| The Chichewa word "ngati" also translates to "unless" in English. | |||
| Shona | kana | ||
| Etymology: From the Proto-Bantu word *kàánà, meaning 'if'. | |||
| Somali | haddii | ||
| The word "haddii" is not only used to express a conditional statement but also serves as a conjunction meaning "since" or "because". | |||
| Sesotho | haeba | ||
| In Sesotho, "haeba" can also be used to indicate a time or place, or to introduce a conditional statement. | |||
| Swahili | kama | ||
| The word 'kama' can also mean 'like' or 'as'. | |||
| Xhosa | ukuba | ||
| The word "ukuba" in Xhosa also means "to be" or "to exist". | |||
| Yoruba | ti o ba ti | ||
| Ti o ba ti in Yoruba can also mean "since" or "because" depending on the context of the sentence. | |||
| Zulu | uma | ||
| Uma, additionally, can mean 'if not' with a slight change in spelling, uma ngabe. | |||
| Bambara | ni | ||
| Ewe | nenye be | ||
| Kinyarwanda | niba | ||
| Lingala | soki | ||
| Luganda | bwe | ||
| Sepedi | ge | ||
| Twi (Akan) | sɛ | ||
If in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | إذا | ||
| The word إذا can also mean "then," "in the event that," "when," and "since." | |||
| Hebrew | אם | ||
| The Hebrew word "אם" can also mean "mother" or "matrix", and derives from the same root as the Arabic word "أم" (mother). | |||
| Pashto | که | ||
| While "که" primarily means "if" in Pashto, it can also be used as a conjunction meaning "that". | |||
| Arabic | إذا | ||
| The word إذا can also mean "then," "in the event that," "when," and "since." | |||
If in Western European Languages
| Albanian | nëse | ||
| "Nëse" comes from the Latin "nescius," meaning "not knowing." | |||
| Basque | bada | ||
| Bada is also the Basque feminine given name derived from Badaia or Bidetxe (road, path or track). | |||
| Catalan | si | ||
| Si in Catalan can also mean "yes" or "so". | |||
| Croatian | ako | ||
| In Serbo-Croatian languages, the word "ako" can also mean "as if" or "as though", suggesting a hypothetical or conditional state. | |||
| Danish | hvis | ||
| The word "hvis" is derived from the Old Norse word "hvat", which means "what" or "which". | |||
| Dutch | als | ||
| Als in Dutch, when followed by 'dan' in the next clause, is equivalent to 'if' and 'then' in English. | |||
| English | if | ||
| The word "if" derives from Old English "gif," meaning "to give" or "in case that," and can be used to express conditionality, concession, or doubt. | |||
| French | si | ||
| French word "si" can also mean "so" or "whether". | |||
| Frisian | as | ||
| In Frisian, "as" can also mean "than" or "as long as". | |||
| Galician | se | ||
| The word "se" is also used in Galician as a preposition meaning "without" or "aside from". | |||
| German | wenn | ||
| The word "wenn" in German derives from the Old High German "hwenne", meaning "at what time". | |||
| Icelandic | ef | ||
| The name of the Old English runic letter éþ (which had the sound / θ /) was spelled ef in Old Norse. | |||
| Irish | dá | ||
| In Irish, 'dá' can also mean 'so that' or 'in order to'. | |||
| Italian | se | ||
| In Medieval Latin, "se," meaning "if" or "because," was used to translate a Greek conditional clause introduced by "ei". | |||
| Luxembourgish | wann | ||
| The word "wann" can also be an exclamation meaning "whoa!" or an interjection expressing surprise. | |||
| Maltese | jekk | ||
| The Maltese word 'jekk' may also mean 'or' or 'whether' in certain contexts. | |||
| Norwegian | hvis | ||
| The word 'hvis' originates from Old Norse 'hvat ef', meaning 'what if', hence its connotation of an unlikely or hypothetical action | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | e se | ||
| "Se" is used in Portuguese as an interrogative pronoun meaning "who?" or "what?" | |||
| Scots Gaelic | ma tha | ||
| In the Scottish Highlands, 'ma tha' is sometimes used to mean 'perhaps', suggesting uncertainty. | |||
| Spanish | si | ||
| The Spanish word "si" can also be used as an affirmation meaning "yes". | |||
| Swedish | om | ||
| 'Om' can also mean 'about' or 'around' | |||
| Welsh | os | ||
| In Welsh, 'os' can also mean 'because' or 'since'. | |||
If in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | калі | ||
| "Калі" can also mean "when" or "as soon as" in Belarusian. | |||
| Bosnian | ako | ||
| The word "ako" can also mean "that" or "because" in Bosnian. | |||
| Bulgarian | ако | ||
| The word "ако" in Bulgarian can also be used in the sense of "whether". | |||
| Czech | -li | ||
| The word also means "or" in Czech.} | |||
| Estonian | kui | ||
| The word "kui" also has meanings "as" and "since". | |||
| Finnish | jos | ||
| The word "jos" also refers to a "belt" or "waistband" in Finnish, derived from the Proto-Uralic word "*yos" meaning "strap". | |||
| Hungarian | ha | ||
| The word "ha" can also be used as an interrogative particle, expressing uncertainty or doubt. | |||
| Latvian | ja | ||
| In Old Latvian, the word "ja" also meant "if", but this meaning is now obsolete | |||
| Lithuanian | jei | ||
| Etymology unknown, same as the Latin "si." | |||
| Macedonian | ако | ||
| The word "ако" shares common Slavic roots with the Serbian and Croatian "ako", ultimately coming from Proto-Slavic "*jek" meaning "if". | |||
| Polish | gdyby | ||
| The word 'gdyby' comes from the Proto-Slavic word 'gdyby', which is derived from the Proto-Indo-European word 'ǵéi', meaning 'if'. | |||
| Romanian | dacă | ||
| The Romanian word "dacă" is cognate with the Albanian and Aromanian words "dhe" (meaning "and") and the English "though" (meaning "although"). | |||
| Russian | если | ||
| "Если" comes from the Old Russian word "еже ли," which means "whether or not" or "if." | |||
| Serbian | ако | ||
| Ако, an Old Church Slavonic word, shares etymology with the Albanian word "po" and the Greek word "an". | |||
| Slovak | ak | ||
| In Slovak, the word "ak" can also mean "even though" or "although." | |||
| Slovenian | če | ||
| "Če" can also mean "what" in Slovenian. | |||
| Ukrainian | якщо | ||
| The word "якщо" also means "that" in the sense of "so that" or "in order to". | |||
If in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | যদি | ||
| The Bengali word "যদি" has its origin in Sanskrit and has additional meanings such as "whether" and "in case". | |||
| Gujarati | જો | ||
| "જો" can also mean "seeing" or "when" in Gujarati. | |||
| Hindi | अगर | ||
| The word "अगर" (agar) in Hindi is borrowed from Arabic and Persian and is cognate with the English word "agarwood", a fragrant wood used in incense and perfumes. | |||
| Kannada | ವೇಳೆ | ||
| The word "ವೇಳೆ" in Kannada also has meanings such as "time" and "occasion". | |||
| Malayalam | എങ്കിൽ | ||
| The word also means 'indeed' or 'even' and derives from the Sanskrit 'yatkil'. | |||
| Marathi | तर | ||
| The Marathi word "तर" originated from the Sanskrit root "tar" or "tra" meaning "to cross over" and also has the alternate meaning of "however". | |||
| Nepali | यदि | ||
| In Sanskrit, its literal meaning is "if so, if that is the case," referring to the condition being a previously mentioned topic. | |||
| Punjabi | ਜੇ | ||
| "ਜੇ" has a secondary meaning of "yes", and can be used as an informal affirmative | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | නම් | ||
| In its alternate usage, "නම්" is also used to denote "namely" or to introduce an example or a clarification. | |||
| Tamil | என்றால் | ||
| Telugu | ఉంటే | ||
| **ఉంటే** (unțē) is also a noun meaning 'existence' or 'reality'. | |||
| Urdu | اگر | ||
| The Urdu word "اگر" can also mean "perhaps" or "by chance". | |||
If in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 如果 | ||
| The character "如" originally meant 'like' or 'according to', but in modern Chinese, it has come to be used almost exclusively in the conditional conjunction "如果" (if). | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 如果 | ||
| The word "如果" can also mean "to suppose" or "to assume". | |||
| Japanese | もし | ||
| The word "もし" in Japanese can also be used to denote "telephone" and is written in the form "もしもし" | |||
| Korean | 만약 | ||
| The word "만약" (man-yak) in Korean derives from the Middle Korean verb "마니다" (mani-da) meaning "to wait" and conveys a sense of conditional waiting. | |||
| Mongolian | хэрэв | ||
| The Mongolian word “хэрэв” derives from the Middle Mongolian word “хэрэбе” which means “to return.” | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | အကယ် | ||
If in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | jika | ||
| The word "jika" can also mean "what's the matter?" or "what happened?". | |||
| Javanese | yen | ||
| The word 'yen' in Javanese can also mean 'that' or 'when', depending on the context. | |||
| Khmer | ប្រសិនបើ | ||
| Lao | ຖ້າ | ||
| The Lao word "ຖ້າ" can also mean "whether" in English. | |||
| Malay | sekiranya | ||
| "Sekiranya" is derived from the Sanskrit "cakra" meaning "wheel", metaphorically referring to the idea of a turning wheel, representing the cycle of life and the interconnectedness of all things. | |||
| Thai | ถ้า | ||
| The Thai word "ถ้า" can also mean "when" or "whenever". | |||
| Vietnamese | nếu | ||
| In certain cases, the word "nếu" can be interchanged with "khi" without altering the sentence's meaning. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | kung | ||
If in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | əgər | ||
| "Əgər" can also mean "perhaps" or "maybe" in Azerbaijani. | |||
| Kazakh | егер | ||
| The word "егер" in Kazakh is derived from the Old Turkic word "йагïр", meaning "to choose" or "to select". | |||
| Kyrgyz | эгер | ||
| "Эгер" can also refer to the verb "to turn" in Kyrgyz, and is related to the word "тегериш," meaning "circulation." | |||
| Tajik | агар | ||
| "Агар" also means "maybe" or "possibly". | |||
| Turkmen | eger | ||
| Uzbek | agar | ||
| Agar is sometimes used as the equivalent of 'agar' in Turkish, which means 'island' | |||
| Uyghur | if | ||
If in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | inā | ||
| The word “inā” also refers to a state of uncertainty or doubt. | |||
| Maori | mena | ||
| The word “mena” (if) is cognate to the Indonesian "manakala" (if, when, or whenever) and is derived from the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian word "manakada". | |||
| Samoan | afai | ||
| Afai, which commonly translates to 'if', can also be used in the sense of 'since' or 'because'. | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | kung | ||
| "Kung" is also used to introduce a conditional clause in Tagalog, but it can also mean "because" or "if it is the case that." | |||
If in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | jisa | ||
| Guarani | ramo | ||
If in International Languages
| Esperanto | se | ||
| "Se" is also used to indicate a condition that is not likely to be fulfilled, similar to the English "if only". | |||
| Latin | si | ||
| The Latin word "si" originated from the Proto-Indo-European root "ḱi, | |||
If in Others Languages
| Greek | αν | ||
| The word "αν" can also mean "whether" or "if not". | |||
| Hmong | yog | ||
| The word "yog" can also mean "because" or "since" in Hmong, depending on the context. | |||
| Kurdish | ger | ||
| In Kurdish, "ger" is also colloquially used to indicate surprise or disbelief. | |||
| Turkish | eğer | ||
| The word "Eğer" in Turkish can also mean "saddle" and is related to the Mongolian word "eher". | |||
| Xhosa | ukuba | ||
| The word "ukuba" in Xhosa also means "to be" or "to exist". | |||
| Yiddish | אויב | ||
| The Yiddish word "אויב" derives from the Old High German "oba" and means "although" or "otherwise". | |||
| Zulu | uma | ||
| Uma, additionally, can mean 'if not' with a slight change in spelling, uma ngabe. | |||
| Assamese | যদি | ||
| Aymara | jisa | ||
| Bhojpuri | अगर | ||
| Dhivehi | ނަމަ | ||
| Dogri | जेकर | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | kung | ||
| Guarani | ramo | ||
| Ilocano | no | ||
| Krio | if | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | ئەگەر | ||
| Maithili | यदि | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯀꯔꯤꯒꯨꯝꯕ | ||
| Mizo | chuan | ||
| Oromo | yoo | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ଯଦି | ||
| Quechua | sichus | ||
| Sanskrit | यदि | ||
| Tatar | if | ||
| Tigrinya | እንተ | ||
| Tsonga | loko | ||