They in Different Languages
Discover 'They' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
They
Afrikaans hulle | ||
Albanian ata | ||
Amharic እነሱ | ||
Arabic هم | ||
Armenian նրանք | ||
Assamese তেওঁলোক | ||
Aymara jupanaka | ||
Azerbaijani onlar | ||
Bambara olu | ||
Basque haiek | ||
Belarusian яны | ||
Bengali তারা | ||
Bhojpuri ऊ | ||
Bosnian oni | ||
Bulgarian те | ||
Catalan ells | ||
Cebuano sila | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 他们 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 他們 | ||
Corsican elli | ||
Croatian oni | ||
Czech ony | ||
Danish de | ||
Dhivehi އެމީހުން | ||
Dogri ओह् | ||
Dutch ze | ||
English they | ||
Esperanto ili | ||
Estonian nad | ||
Ewe wo | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) sila | ||
Finnish ne | ||
French ils | ||
Frisian sy | ||
Galician eles | ||
Georgian ისინი | ||
German sie | ||
Greek αυτοί | ||
Guarani ha'ekuéra | ||
Gujarati તેઓ | ||
Haitian Creole yo | ||
Hausa su | ||
Hawaiian lākou | ||
Hebrew הֵם | ||
Hindi वे | ||
Hmong lawv | ||
Hungarian ők | ||
Icelandic þeir | ||
Igbo ha | ||
Ilocano isuda | ||
Indonesian mereka | ||
Irish siad | ||
Italian essi | ||
Japanese 彼ら | ||
Javanese dheweke | ||
Kannada ಅವರು | ||
Kazakh олар | ||
Khmer ពួកគេ | ||
Kinyarwanda bo | ||
Konkani ते | ||
Korean 그들 | ||
Krio dɛn | ||
Kurdish ew | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) ئەوان | ||
Kyrgyz алар | ||
Lao ພວກເຂົາ | ||
Latin quod | ||
Latvian viņi | ||
Lingala bango | ||
Lithuanian jie | ||
Luganda bbo | ||
Luxembourgish si | ||
Macedonian тие | ||
Maithili ओ सभ | ||
Malagasy izy ireo | ||
Malay mereka | ||
Malayalam അവർ | ||
Maltese huma | ||
Maori ratou | ||
Marathi ते | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯃꯈꯣꯏ | ||
Mizo anni | ||
Mongolian тэд | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) သူတို့ | ||
Nepali तिनीहरू | ||
Norwegian de | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) iwo | ||
Odia (Oriya) ସେମାନେ | ||
Oromo isaan | ||
Pashto دوی | ||
Persian آنها | ||
Polish one | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) eles | ||
Punjabi ਉਹ | ||
Quechua paykuna | ||
Romanian ei | ||
Russian oни | ||
Samoan latou | ||
Sanskrit ते | ||
Scots Gaelic iad | ||
Sepedi bona | ||
Serbian они | ||
Sesotho bona | ||
Shona ivo | ||
Sindhi اهي | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ඔවුන් | ||
Slovak oni | ||
Slovenian oni | ||
Somali iyagu | ||
Spanish ellos | ||
Sundanese aranjeunna | ||
Swahili wao | ||
Swedish de | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) sila | ||
Tajik онҳо | ||
Tamil அவர்கள் | ||
Tatar алар | ||
Telugu వాళ్ళు | ||
Thai พวกเขา | ||
Tigrinya ንሶም | ||
Tsonga vona | ||
Turkish onlar | ||
Turkmen olar | ||
Twi (Akan) wɔn | ||
Ukrainian вони | ||
Urdu وہ | ||
Uyghur ئۇلار | ||
Uzbek ular | ||
Vietnamese họ | ||
Welsh nhw | ||
Xhosa bona | ||
Yiddish זיי | ||
Yoruba àwọn | ||
Zulu bona |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Hulle shares its origin with the Dutch "zij", which also means "they" but is used to refer to the female gender specifically. |
| Albanian | In old Albanian, “ata” could mean “they,” “he,” or even “him.” |
| Amharic | The Amharic word "እነሱ" derives from the Proto-Semitic root "*hwn", meaning "those" or "the ones over there." |
| Arabic | The word "هم" in Arabic also means "worry" or "concern" and is related to the Hebrew word "הום" (worry). |
| Armenian | In Armenian, the plural form "նրանք" can also be used to refer to individuals of unknown or unspecified gender. |
| Azerbaijani | The Azerbaijani word "onlar" may also mean "those" or "them" in English, depending on the context. |
| Basque | In addition to its primary meaning of "they," "haiek" can also mean "those people" or "the others". The word "haiek" is derived from the Proto-Basque root *hai-, meaning "that"} |
| Belarusian | In some contexts, "яны" can also refer to "it" (3rd person neuter) or "you" (2nd person plural in formal settings). |
| Bengali | "তারা" (tara) in Bengali may also refer to stars in the sky. |
| Bosnian | In Bosnian, 'oni' can also mean 'theirs' when referring to masculine plural nouns, and 'onima' when referring to feminine plural nouns. |
| Bulgarian | The word "те" can refer to people, animals, or things in Bulgarian. |
| Catalan | The word "ells" in Catalan, derived from Latin "illi", can also refer to a unit of length originating in the forearm. |
| Cebuano | In Cebuano, the word "sila" can also mean "their" or "them", depending on the context. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The character 他们 (tāmen) is a 3rd person plural pronoun in Chinese, but it can also be used as a way to refer to a group of people of unspecified gender. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The character 他們 originally meant "to raise hands," and its alternate meaning developed from there. |
| Corsican | The word "elli" is also used as a formal plural for "you". |
| Croatian | The word "oni" can also refer to a type of mythical creature known as a demon or ogre in Croatian mythology. |
| Czech | The Czech "ony" is a shortened form of the Proto-Slavic "oni" and has the alternate meaning "some". |
| Danish | The Danish word "de" is derived from Old Norse "þeir" and has the alternate meaning of "those". |
| Dutch | The word “ze” in Dutch can also refer to an indefinite number of people without specifying any gender. |
| Esperanto | "Ili" is ultimately derived from Latin "ille" meaning "that one". |
| Estonian | "Nad" is derived from Proto-Finnic *nä, related to Hungarian "ők", "they". |
| Finnish | The word "ne" in Finnish, besides meaning "they", also refers to "others" or "people in general". |
| French | The French word "ils" can also refer to "he" or "she" when the gender is unknown or not specified. |
| Frisian | In Saterland Frisian, "sy" can also mean "you" (singular informal). |
| Galician | The Galician word "eles" derives from the same Latin root as "other," suggesting a sense of separation or difference. |
| Georgian | The word "ისინი" can also mean "those" or "them" in Georgian. |
| German | German "Sie" stems from Middle High German "sī", which derives from Old High German "sī", meaning "he, she, or it". |
| Greek | "Αυτοί" is a Greek article that can refer to both male and female individuals. |
| Gujarati | The Guajarati word "તેઓ" has an alternate meaning of "those". |
| Haitian Creole | The word "yo" can also mean "it" when used as the subject of a sentence with an impersonal verb in Haitian Creole. |
| Hausa | In some dialects, 'su' can also be used to mean "they are". |
| Hawaiian | The word "lākou" in Hawaiian can also mean "their" or "theirs". |
| Hebrew | The word "הֵם" ('they') derives from the Proto-Semitic root H-M, denoting "they", "it", or "its". |
| Hindi | The word "वे" (they) in Hindi can also mean "those" or "people". |
| Hmong | Lawv (they) is derived from the Old Hmong word "la" meaning "person" or "soul." |
| Hungarian | "Ők" is also used as a possessive suffix, e.g. "az ő könyve" (their book). |
| Icelandic | Þeir can also refer to one person if that person's gender is unknown or unspecified. |
| Igbo | "Ha" in Igbo can also mean "it" or "he" instead of just "they". |
| Indonesian | The word "mereka" in Indonesian can also be used as an informal second person plural pronoun, similar to "you guys" in English. |
| Irish | The Irish word "siad" is derived from the Old Irish "siat", meaning "those". It can also be used in formal or archaic contexts to refer to people in a non-specific way |
| Italian | The word "essi" in Italian derives from the Latin word "ipsi" and originally meant "themselves" or "the same people". |
| Japanese | '彼ら' is short for '彼等'. '彼' means 'the other', '等' means 'same kind'. So '彼ら' means 'the other guys like you'. |
| Javanese | "Dheweke" in Javanese also translates to "I/me." |
| Kannada | The word "ಅವರು" can also refer to a particular person in a respected or formal manner, similar to the use of "vous" in French. |
| Kazakh | The word "олар" comes from the Proto-Turkic root *ular, meaning "those people", and is related to the Mongolian word "олон", meaning "many." |
| Khmer | The word “ពួកគេ” is also used to refer to a group of people, such as a family or a team. |
| Kurdish | “Ew” in Kurdish can also mean “theirs” when used as a possessive pronoun, as in “ew maşîn” (“their car”). |
| Kyrgyz | The word "алар" can also refer to a group of people or a class of objects in Kyrgyz. |
| Lao | The Lao word ພວກເຂົາ (they) is also used to refer to a group of people who are not present. |
| Latin | The Latin word "quod" may also mean "because" or "that," and is related to the English word "what." |
| Latvian | In certain Latvian dialects, "viņi" can refer to "two people of either gender" |
| Lithuanian | The word "jie" can also mean "those" or "the ones" in Lithuanian. |
| Luxembourgish | Luxembourgish "si" is also used as a polite form of "you" (singular), like French "vous". |
| Macedonian | The Slavic word "тие" (they) may also refer to a specific group of people, or be used as a polite form of address. |
| Malagasy | The word "izy ireo" in Malagasy can also mean "those" or "these". |
| Malay | "Mereka" derives from Old Javanese "markanda", which meant "person" or "self". |
| Malayalam | The word 'അവർ' is also used to refer to people who are absent, deceased, or non-specific. |
| Maltese | The word "huma" also means "them" in Maltese, and comes from the Arabic word "hum". |
| Maori | Ratou means "they" in Maori, but can also be a possessive pronoun meaning "their". It comes from the root word "raro", meaning "below" or "underneath". |
| Marathi | The Sanskrit word "ते" means "to protect" or "to defend" (as in "तारण"), and is a masculine declension of a nominal form of the PIE root "*ter-", meaning "to cross (a body of water)". |
| Mongolian | The word "тэд" can also be used to refer to a group of people or things, or to an unspecified person or thing. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | သူတို့ is sometimes used to address a person in the third person to show respect, especially if they are older or have a high position. |
| Nepali | The Nepali word for "they" is "तिनीहरू" and is derived from the Sanskrit word "ते" (ta) meaning "that." |
| Norwegian | The Norwegian word "de" is cognate to the German "die" and the English "they/those", and in Old Norse it could also be used for the neuter gender (whereas today the neuter form is always "de") and as a demonstrative pronoun (meaning "these/those") |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "iwo" can also mean "these" and is used in the context of people. |
| Pashto | دوی (duy) is ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dwi meaning 'two' and is cognate to the English words 'two', 'duo', 'dyad', 'duet' and 'double'. |
| Persian | The term "آنها" (they) in Persian, derived from the Proto-Indo-European */teyo/, originally referred to a group of three people, but it gradually expanded to include any group of individuals. |
| Polish | In Polish, "one" can also mean an indefinite person, as in English "one does not simply walk into Mordor" |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | "Eles" is the plural form of "ele" (he) and "ela" (she). It can also be used as a gender-neutral pronoun, equivalent to the English "they". In Brazil, "eles" is also used to refer to a formal or polite "you" (similar to the French "vous") when addressing a person or group. |
| Punjabi | The Punjabi word "ਉਹ" can also refer to a distant or hypothetical person or thing. |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "ei" can also mean "he" when referring to an individual of unknown or unspecified gender. |
| Russian | 'Они' (они) в русском языке также может использоваться для обозначения неопределенного или неизвестного лица. |
| Samoan | Latou also translates to 'their' and is used as a possessive pronoun. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Scots Gaelic word 'iad' can also refer to 'he' or 'she'. |
| Serbian | The word "они" can also mean "those" or "them". |
| Sesotho | In Southern Sotho, "bona" is also used as a polite way to refer to a single person. |
| Shona | The Shona language form "ivo" may also refer to the English word "we". |
| Sindhi | The word "اهي" is likely derived from the Proto-Indo-Aryan word "*aya-s," which also meant "they". |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhalese word "ඔවුන්" can also be used to refer to people who are not present. |
| Slovak | The word "oni" in Slovak also means "those" or "people". |
| Slovenian | "Oni" can also refer to the mythological "they-creature" |
| Somali | "Iyagu" can also mean "those" in Somali. |
| Spanish | Ellos is the plural third person form of the Spanish personal pronoun used when referring to two or more people or things, and it is derived from the Latin "illi"} |
| Sundanese | The word "aranjeunna" has the same etymological root as "anjeun" ("you"), which comes from the Javanese word "inyong". |
| Swahili | The Swahili word "wao" can also refer to a group of people or animals. |
| Swedish | The word 'de' in Swedish can also mean 'them' in English, as in 'They are going to the store'. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word "sila" can also refer to the plural form of the second person pronoun ("you") in Tagalog. |
| Tajik | "Онҳо" also means "demon" or "devil". |
| Tamil | "அவர்கள்" can also refer to a particular group of people or a person of a certain status. |
| Telugu | Telugu "వాళ్ళు" means "they", but can also mean "those people" or "the people over there". |
| Thai | The Thai word “พวกเขา” (“they”) is derived from the Sanskrit word “te” and has the alternate meaning of “those people”. |
| Turkish | The Turkish word "onlar" can also refer to "those" or indicate a general sense of "people". |
| Ukrainian | In Western Ukrainian dialects, "вони" can mean both "they" and "it," while in Standard Ukrainian, "воно" is used for "it." |
| Urdu | In Urdu 'وہ' ('they') can also be used in a singular context, where it is usually translated as 'he' or 'she'. |
| Uzbek | The word "ular" can also refer to objects that are perceived as a group or a collection. |
| Vietnamese | In Sino-Vietnamese, "họ" refers to the surname and implies respect, while in native Vietnamese it may also refer to the family or relatives. |
| Welsh | The Welsh word 'nhw' also has the meaning of 'us', 'our', or 'ours'. |
| Xhosa | "Bona" also means "they" when referring to a general, unspecified group of people. |
| Yiddish | In older Yiddish literature, 'zey' can also be found as a variant spelling of the pronoun 'er', meaning 'he'. |
| Yoruba | "Àwọn" can be prefixed to numerals to form ordinal numbers. |
| Zulu | The word "bona" can also mean "their" or "theirs" in the Zulu language, demonstrating its versatility in expressing different aspects of ownership and possession. |
| English | The pronoun "they" has been used as a singular non-binary pronoun since at least the 14th century. |