When in Different Languages
Discover 'When' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
When
Afrikaans wanneer | ||
Albanian kur | ||
Amharic መቼ | ||
Arabic متى | ||
Armenian երբ | ||
Assamese কেতিয়া | ||
Aymara kunawsa | ||
Azerbaijani nə vaxt | ||
Bambara waati | ||
Basque noiz | ||
Belarusian калі | ||
Bengali কখন | ||
Bhojpuri कब | ||
Bosnian kada | ||
Bulgarian кога | ||
Catalan quan | ||
Cebuano kanus-a | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 什么时候 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 什麼時候 | ||
Corsican quandu | ||
Croatian kada | ||
Czech když | ||
Danish hvornår | ||
Dhivehi ކޮންއިރަކު | ||
Dogri कदूं | ||
Dutch wanneer | ||
English when | ||
Esperanto kiam | ||
Estonian millal | ||
Ewe ɣe ka ɣi | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) kailan | ||
Finnish kun | ||
French quand | ||
Frisian wannear | ||
Galician cando | ||
Georgian როდესაც | ||
German wann | ||
Greek όταν | ||
Guarani araka'épa | ||
Gujarati ક્યારે | ||
Haitian Creole kilè | ||
Hausa yaushe | ||
Hawaiian i ka manawa | ||
Hebrew מתי | ||
Hindi कब | ||
Hmong thaum | ||
Hungarian mikor | ||
Icelandic hvenær | ||
Igbo mgbe ole | ||
Ilocano no | ||
Indonesian kapan | ||
Irish cathain | ||
Italian quando | ||
Japanese いつ | ||
Javanese nalika | ||
Kannada ಯಾವಾಗ | ||
Kazakh қашан | ||
Khmer ពេលណា | ||
Kinyarwanda ryari | ||
Konkani केन्ना | ||
Korean 언제 | ||
Krio ustɛm | ||
Kurdish heke | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) کەی | ||
Kyrgyz качан | ||
Lao ເມື່ອໃດ | ||
Latin quod | ||
Latvian kad | ||
Lingala ntango | ||
Lithuanian kada | ||
Luganda ddi | ||
Luxembourgish wéini | ||
Macedonian кога | ||
Maithili जखन | ||
Malagasy rahoviana | ||
Malay bila | ||
Malayalam എപ്പോൾ | ||
Maltese meta | ||
Maori āhea | ||
Marathi कधी | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯀꯔꯝꯕ ꯃꯇꯝꯗ | ||
Mizo engtikah | ||
Mongolian хэзээ | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ဘယ်တော့လဲ | ||
Nepali कहिले | ||
Norwegian når | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) liti | ||
Odia (Oriya) କେବେ | ||
Oromo yoom | ||
Pashto كله | ||
Persian چه زمانی | ||
Polish gdy | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) quando | ||
Punjabi ਜਦੋਂ | ||
Quechua haykaq | ||
Romanian cand | ||
Russian когда | ||
Samoan afea | ||
Sanskrit कदा | ||
Scots Gaelic cuin | ||
Sepedi neng | ||
Serbian када | ||
Sesotho neng | ||
Shona riinhi | ||
Sindhi ڪڏهن | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) කවදා ද | ||
Slovak kedy | ||
Slovenian kdaj | ||
Somali goorma | ||
Spanish cuando | ||
Sundanese iraha | ||
Swahili lini | ||
Swedish när | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) kailan | ||
Tajik кай | ||
Tamil எப்பொழுது | ||
Tatar кайчан | ||
Telugu ఎప్పుడు | ||
Thai เมื่อไหร่ | ||
Tigrinya መዓዝ | ||
Tsonga rini | ||
Turkish ne zaman | ||
Turkmen haçan | ||
Twi (Akan) berɛ bɛn | ||
Ukrainian коли | ||
Urdu کب | ||
Uyghur قاچان | ||
Uzbek qachon | ||
Vietnamese khi nào | ||
Welsh pryd | ||
Xhosa nini | ||
Yiddish ווען | ||
Yoruba nigbawo | ||
Zulu nini |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Afrikaans "wanneer" originally meant "just when" but over time it acquired its current sense |
| Albanian | The word "kur" in Albanian can also mean "since" or "whenever". |
| Amharic | In Ethiopian geez, |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "متى" also appears in the compound word "وقت," which means "time," and the root of "متى" refers to "a point in time" in some Semitic languages. |
| Armenian | The Armenian word "երբ" can also mean "why" or "however" depending on the context. |
| Azerbaijani | A combination of the Azerbaijani words 'nə' meaning 'what' and 'vaxt' meaning 'time', 'nə vaxt' can also be translated as 'what time'. |
| Basque | The word "noiz" can mean both "when" and "time" in Basque, and is related to the word "noizbehinka," meaning "sometimes." |
| Belarusian | In Old Belarusian, "калі" was also used to mean "if" or "whether" |
| Bengali | The word "কখন" may also be used in Bengali to indicate an uncertain or indefinite future time. |
| Bosnian | Bosnian “kada” originates from Proto-Slavic “kъdy” (“at the time when”), also related to English “quandary” from Old French “quand” (“when”). |
| Bulgarian | The word "кога" also means "what time" in Bulgarian. |
| Catalan | The etymology of the Catalan word "Quan" ("when") can be traced back to the Latin word "Quam". |
| Cebuano | "Kanus-a" and "Kanus-a pa?" are also used to express "since" and "for how long?", respectively. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 什么时候 (shénme shíhou) is composed of the elements 什么 (shénme, what), 时 (shí, time), and 候 (hòu, moment or opportune moment). |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 什麼時候 literally means 'what time', however, it is commonly used to ask 'when' something happens in general. |
| Corsican | Corsican "quandu" derives from Latin "quando", but can in older texts additionally mean "then, while, since" and "although, when". |
| Croatian | In Serbo-Croatian, 'kada' can also mean 'sometimes', a relic of the older sense of 'at some point in time'. |
| Czech | The word "když" can also be used to mean "if" in certain contexts. |
| Danish | The words _hvor_ (where) and _når_ (when) can be combined into _hvornår_ (when). |
| Dutch | Derived from Middle Dutch "wanne" (interrogative when) that evolved into "wenner" and, from 1100 onwards, into modern "wanneer" |
| Esperanto | "Kiam" is related to Esperanto's "kio" for "what" and "tiu" for "that". |
| Estonian | The Estonian word "millal" also means "at what time" or "how soon". |
| Finnish | The word "kun" may also refer to "if" or "because". |
| French | Quand originated from 'quando' in Latin, and it can also mean 'although' when used with subjunctive mood. |
| Frisian | The word 'wannear' can also mean 'whenever' in Frisian. |
| Galician | In the Galician phrase `cando chova`, the word `cando` means `whenever` (literally, `when it rains`), while in `cando queiras` it means `whenever you want`. |
| German | "Wann" in German can also mean "if" and comes from the Old High German "hwanne," meaning "when" or "at what time." |
| Greek | In Ancient Greek, "όταν" also referred to a rare flower and a type of fish found in the Nile. |
| Haitian Creole | The Haitian Creole word "Kilè" comes from the French "quelle heure," meaning "what time." |
| Hausa | Although 'yaushe' means 'when' and 'lokaci' also mean 'time,' you cannot say 'lokaci nake dawowa?' Instead of 'lokaci,' one must say ' lokacin' for it to be correct. |
| Hawaiian | The word |
| Hebrew | The word "מתי" (when) in Hebrew can also refer to "death" or "the dead." |
| Hindi | The word "कब" (kab) in Hindi can also mean "maybe" or "perhaps". |
| Hmong | In the past, some Hmong dialects used "thaum" for both the word "when" and "because". |
| Hungarian | "Mikor" is sometimes misunderstood as coming from "mi kor", meaning "what now". |
| Icelandic | The word "hvenær" in Icelandic is derived from the Old Norse phrase "hva nær," meaning "what near," indicating a point in time relative to a specific event. |
| Igbo | The Igbo word "mgbe ole" is etymologically linked to the concept of "old time" or "ancient era". |
| Indonesian | The word "kapan" in Indonesian is thought to be derived from the Proto-Austronesian word "ka-pana" meaning "at which time". |
| Irish | The Irish word Cathain can also refer to an event that occurs repeatedly or to the time when something is due. |
| Italian | In Latin, 'quando' also means 'how much' or 'how many' |
| Japanese | In Classical Japanese, 「いつ」 could mean "the time" or "the weather." |
| Javanese | The word "nalika" can also refer to a specific time period in Javanese, especially in its usage in Javanese astrology and in conjunction with the traditional Javanese calendar system. |
| Kannada | The word "ಯಾವಾಗ" in Kannada derives from the Proto-Dravidian root *ē-va- or *yāva-, meaning "time". |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word қашан "when" is also used in the sense of "since" in compound words. |
| Korean | “언제” means “when it rains” in Sino-Korean, referring to events that happen when certain conditions are met. |
| Kurdish | The word "heke" in Kurdish can also mean "when" or "if" in the context of conditional statements. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "качан" in Kyrgyz is derived from the Proto-Turkic word "kanča" meaning "how long ago?" |
| Latin | The Latin word "quod" also means "because" or "that". |
| Latvian | In the Livonian language, “kad” means “until”. |
| Lithuanian | The Lithuanian word "kada" can also refer to "suddenly" or "if", depending on the context. |
| Luxembourgish | "Wéini" derives from Old High German "hwenne" (Old English "hwænne"), meaning "at what time, when". |
| Macedonian | In Old Church Slavonic, "кога" initially meant "time" and "occasion". |
| Malagasy | The word "rahoviana" derives from the Malayo-Polynesian root *sa-huwa-, meaning "one day" or "on the day". |
| Malay | The word "bila" in Malay can also mean "if" or "where". |
| Malayalam | The word "എപ്പോൾ" (when) in Malayalam can also mean "if" or "in case". |
| Maltese | Meta can also mean 'while' in Maltese and is cognate to the prepositions 'meta' in Ancient Greek, 'metá' in Spanish and 'meta' in Albanian. |
| Maori | "Āhea" can also describe the concept of a time in the future and refers to a point beyond the present moment. |
| Marathi | "कधी" means "sometime" or "once" and can also be used to express "if" or "whether" in Marathi. |
| Mongolian | In Classical Mongolian, “хэзээ” meant “when” or “why” and originated from a Mongolian word for “to interrogate.” |
| Nepali | The word "कहिले" in Nepali can also mean "sometimes" or "occasionally". |
| Norwegian | "Når" can also be used to express uncertainty e.g.: Jeg tror det er søndag når (I think it's Sunday when) and possibility: Det kan være søndag når (It might be Sunday when). |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | In addition to meaning "when," "liti" can also mean "since," "while," or "if." |
| Pashto | The word "كله" in Pashto is also used in the sense of "since", "whenever", and "until". |
| Polish | Originally deriving from the Old Polish “godzi” (“worthy,” “appropriate”), “gdy” came to replace other earlier words for “when,” including "jęli” and "koli" |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | "Quando" ultimately derives from the Latin "quando" meaning "at some time", and can also be used to mean "sometimes" or "once in a while" in Portuguese. |
| Punjabi | The word "ਜਦੋਂ" is used not only to mean "when" but also as an interrogative particle, meaning "why" or "on what occasion"} |
| Romanian | Possibly derived from the Latin word "quando" ("when"). |
| Russian | The Russian word "когда" can also mean "if" or "whenever" in some contexts. |
| Samoan | In other Polynesian languages, such as Tahitian and Cook Islands Māori "afea" means "if". |
| Scots Gaelic | In some parts of Scotland, "cuin" can also mean "how long" or "how far". |
| Serbian | The Serbian word "када" can also mean "if" or "whenever". |
| Sesotho | The word "neng" (when) in Sesotho has possible connections to ideas of "time" and "circumstance". |
| Shona | The word "riinhi" can also be used to mean "as long as" or "until." |
| Sindhi | The word "ڪڏهن" also denotes an uncertain event or action with the same meaning as "if" in English |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhala word "කවදා ද" also means "at what time". |
| Slovak | The word "kedy" can also mean "sometimes" or "once". |
| Slovenian | The word "kdaj" can also mean "at some time" or "sometime". |
| Somali | The Somali word "goorma" not only means "when" but can also be used to refer to a specific time or occasion. |
| Spanish | The Spanish word "cuando" derives from the Latin "quando," meaning "at what time" or "at what moment." |
| Sundanese | "Iraha" is also an exclamation used to indicate that something is happening or has happened unexpectedly. |
| Swahili | The word "lini" in Swahili is derived from the Proto-Bantu word "-li-ni," which also means "time." |
| Swedish | The word "när" in Swedish originally meant "close to" and was used to refer to both time and space. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "kailan'' is a cognate of the Sanskrit "kada", which means "at which season or time". |
| Tajik | The original meaning of the Tajik word "кай" is "then", but it gained the additional meaning of "when" due to its widespread use as a question-word. |
| Tamil | The word "எப்பொழுது" (when) can also mean "whenever" or "sometime" in Tamil. |
| Thai | เมื่อไหร่ comes from the Proto-Tai word *hɔŋ-nai meaning "at what time, when". |
| Turkish | The word "ne zaman" literally translates to "what time" in Turkish. |
| Ukrainian | The Ukrainian word "коли" has Proto-Slavic origins and can also mean "if". |
| Urdu | The Urdu word "کب" (kab) has additional meanings such as "sometime" and "maybe". |
| Uzbek | Qachon can also mean 'suddenly' and 'at once'. |
| Vietnamese | "Khi nào" is a compound word consisting of "khi" (time) and "nào" (interrogative particle), meaning "what time" or "when". |
| Welsh | The word "pryd" in Welsh also means "time", "space", "season", and "moment". |
| Xhosa | The word 'nini' also means 'just now' or 'some time ago'. |
| Yiddish | ווען can also refer to an indeterminate time or condition |
| Yoruba | The word "Nigbawo" also means "at the time of" or "during the time of" in Yoruba. |
| Zulu | The isiZulu word "nini" is also an interrogative used to ask "what?" and "why?" |
| English | The word 'when' derives from the Old English 'hwenne' and was initially an adverb referring to time or to an instance of time. |