Which in Different Languages
Discover 'Which' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
Have you ever wondered how to say 'which' in different languages? This simple word, often used to express choice or inquire about a specific option, holds a significant place in many languages and cultures around the world. The word 'which' is not only crucial for effective communication but also for understanding the nuances of various languages.
Throughout history, 'which' has been a vital part of human expression and language development. For instance, in ancient Greek, 'which' could be translated as 'ho' (ὅς) or 'hē' (ἥ), depending on the gender of the noun it referred to. Similarly, in Latin, 'qui' or 'quae' were used to convey the same meaning.
Understanding the translation of 'which' in different languages can open doors to new cultural experiences and broaden your linguistic horizons. By learning how to ask 'which' in various languages, you'll be better equipped to navigate conversations, read foreign texts, and immerse yourself in diverse cultural contexts.
Which
Which in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | watter | ||
| Amharic | የትኛው | ||
| In Amharic, "የትኛው" also means "the one that" and "the one that is". | |||
| Hausa | wanne | ||
| Hausa "wanne" can mean either "which" or "where" depending on its placement in a sentence. | |||
| Igbo | kedu | ||
| Igbo "Kedu" can also mean "who" or "what" depending on the context of the sentence. | |||
| Malagasy | iza | ||
| IZA is the result of an elision in the phrase "izay" or "izao", which also means "which". | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | amene | ||
| "Amene" can also refer to "the people who" and sometimes "the person who," e.g., "Amene adadza mawa amakhala naye" ("The person who will bring a car is coming with them"). | |||
| Shona | izvo | ||
| The word 'izvo' is also used in the sense of 'that' and can be used to refer to a specific person or thing. | |||
| Somali | taas oo ah | ||
| "Taas oo ah" is a complex Somali phrase whose meaning depends on context but often translates to "the one who" or "those who." | |||
| Sesotho | e leng | ||
| The word "e leng" in Sesotho also means "which kind" and "what kind". | |||
| Swahili | ambayo | ||
| "Ambayo" can also mean "that" in the sense of "the one" or "the fact that". | |||
| Xhosa | eyiphi | ||
| Xhosa "eyiphi" is also cognate with Zulu "yiphi", with which it shares the etymological root "phi" (where). | |||
| Yoruba | kini | ||
| Kini means 'which' in Yoruba, and it can also mean 'who' or 'what'. | |||
| Zulu | okuyi | ||
| The word 'okuyi' can also refer to a specific place, such as a homestead or a village. | |||
| Bambara | jumɛn | ||
| Ewe | nu ka | ||
| Kinyarwanda | ikaba | ||
| Lingala | nini | ||
| Luganda | nga | ||
| Sepedi | yona | ||
| Twi (Akan) | deɛ ɛwɔ he | ||
Which in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | التي | ||
| Hebrew | איזה | ||
| The Hebrew word "איזה" can also mean "a little," similar to adding "a bit" before a noun in English. | |||
| Pashto | کوم | ||
| The Pashto word “كوم” is also used to ask for the location of something. | |||
| Arabic | التي | ||
Which in Western European Languages
| Albanian | të cilat | ||
| The Albanian word "të cilat" is derived from the Proto-Albanian word "*kâ", meaning "this" or "that". | |||
| Basque | zein | ||
| The Basque word "zein" can also mean "what" or "who", and is related to the Proto-Basque word "*zein" meaning "what kind". | |||
| Catalan | quin | ||
| In modern Catalan, "quin" can mean "which" as well as "what" and "what a" | |||
| Croatian | koji | ||
| Koji is a question word in Croatian that can mean "which" but is also used to ask about the content of something. | |||
| Danish | hvilken | ||
| The Danish word "hvilken" derives from the Old Norse word "hvilikr", a compound of the interrogative pronouns "hvat" (what) and "hve" | |||
| Dutch | welke | ||
| The word 'welke' in Dutch can also mean 'which one', 'what kind of', or 'what is'. | |||
| English | which | ||
| Etymology of 'which' is the Old English 'hwilc/hwylc', meaning 'which, what', and is also related to the word 'who'. | |||
| French | lequel | ||
| The French word "lequel" (which) originally meant "the that" from the Latin "ille quod." | |||
| Frisian | hokker | ||
| In Old Frisian, "hokker" could also mean "because" or "for". | |||
| Galician | cal | ||
| The word "cal" in Galician (which comes from Latin "qualis") also means "the other" or "the rest". | |||
| German | welche | ||
| The word "welche" in German is also a contraction of the phrase "was für eine" (colloquially "was für 'ne") meaning "what sort of". | |||
| Icelandic | sem | ||
| 'Sem' originally meant 'the same' and is related to the modern Icelandic phrase 'sá sami' or 'the same one'. | |||
| Irish | atá | ||
| The word "atá" in Irish can also mean "is" or "are". | |||
| Italian | quale | ||
| The word "quale" also means "type" or "kind" in Italian. | |||
| Luxembourgish | déi | ||
| The word "déi" is derived from the Old High German word "dër," which means "the". It can also be used as an interrogative pronoun, meaning "who" or "what". | |||
| Maltese | liema | ||
| In informal spoken Maltese, "liema" can also be used to mean "what sort of" or "what kind of." | |||
| Norwegian | hvilken | ||
| The word "hvilken" originates from the Old Norse word "hvílíkr", meaning "of what kind" or "what sort." | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | qual | ||
| The word "qual" can also mean "what kind of" or "what" in Portuguese. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | a tha | ||
| "A tha" derives from Old Irish "a dhé", meaning "who". | |||
| Spanish | cual | ||
| The word "cual" originates from the Latin "qualis," meaning "of what kind." | |||
| Swedish | som | ||
| The Swedish word "som" can derive from three words; the interrogative "sån", the demonstrative "sådan", or the relative "som". | |||
| Welsh | sydd | ||
| The word "sydd" in Welsh can also mean "is" or "are". | |||
Which in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | якія | ||
| The Belarusian word "якія" can also mean "what kind" and is derived from Proto-Slavic "*jьkъi". | |||
| Bosnian | koji | ||
| Koji means "one out of several" and is sometimes used instead of "koji god" in questions. | |||
| Bulgarian | който | ||
| The word "който" in Bulgarian can also mean "that" or "who" in English, depending on the context. | |||
| Czech | který | ||
| Který can also mean "who" or "that" in Czech. | |||
| Estonian | mis | ||
| Mis also means "what" or functions as an interrogative particle. | |||
| Finnish | mikä | ||
| The word "mikä" also means "what" in certain contexts, such as when asking questions. | |||
| Hungarian | melyik | ||
| "Melyik" literally means "body", "corpse" in Hungarian and can be found in the name of the city "Sopron" and the Hungarian "székely" ethnic minority. | |||
| Latvian | kas | ||
| The word "kas" in Latvian can also mean "in the event that" or "in case that". | |||
| Lithuanian | kuri | ||
| "Kuri" can also mean "which of two" or "which, exactly" | |||
| Macedonian | кои | ||
| In some cases, "кои" can also be used in the sense of "those who". | |||
| Polish | który | ||
| "Który" can also mean "some" or "someone" in Polish, depending on the context. | |||
| Romanian | care | ||
| Originally derived from the Old Slavonic 'care', the word 'care' can also mean 'whom', in addition to 'which'. | |||
| Russian | который | ||
| In Russian, "который" can also mean "some," "somehow," or "as is." | |||
| Serbian | која | ||
| "Која" can also mean "what" or "what kind of" in Serbian. | |||
| Slovak | ktoré | ||
| The word "ktoré" has also been used since the 13th century to mean "who". | |||
| Slovenian | ki | ||
| 'Ki' also means 'who', 'whoever', 'that', 'any' and 'what'. | |||
| Ukrainian | котрий | ||
| The Ukrainian word "котрий" derives from the Slavic word "котор", meaning "which" or "what kind of". | |||
Which in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | যা | ||
| The Bengali word "যা" (jā) can also refer to a place, an event or a state of affairs. | |||
| Gujarati | જે | ||
| The Gujarati word "જે" can also mean "who" or refer to a specific person or thing. | |||
| Hindi | कौन कौन से | ||
| "कौन कौन से" is a plural form of "कौन" (which) and can also be used to mean "which ones" or "what kind of." | |||
| Kannada | ಇದು | ||
| The word "ಇದು" can also be used to mean "this" or "that" depending on the context. | |||
| Malayalam | ഏത് | ||
| The word "ഏത്" (aith) in Malayalam can also mean "what" or "who" and is derived from the Proto-Dravidian word *ait-. | |||
| Marathi | जे | ||
| In Marathi, "जे" can also refer to the masculine plural form of "the", or the nominative form of the neuter pronoun "that". | |||
| Nepali | कुन | ||
| The Nepali word 'कुन' can also be used as a determiner to highlight a noun, similar to its uses in English and Chinese. | |||
| Punjabi | ਕਿਹੜਾ | ||
| ਕਿਹੜਾ has no alternative meanings, but it originated from Sanskrit 'kidṛśa', meaning 'of what sort' or 'of what nature'. | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | කුමන | ||
| The word "කුමන" not only means "which" in Sinhala, but also means "what kind of" or "what sort of". | |||
| Tamil | எந்த | ||
| எந்த is also used for asking 'who' as well as for 'what', 'where', 'why' and 'how many'. | |||
| Telugu | ఇది | ||
| In Telugu, the word "ఇది" ("idhi") can also refer to the concept of "this" or serve as a demonstrative pronoun. | |||
| Urdu | کونسا | ||
| The word "کونسا" (konsa) in Urdu can also mean "what sort of" or "what kind of". | |||
Which in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 哪一个 | ||
| 在粤语中，“哪一个”也可指“什么”或“那个” | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 哪一個 | ||
| 哪個 is an interrogative pronoun used in questions to ask for a specific person or thing from a limited group. | |||
| Japanese | これ | ||
| The word "これ" also means "this" or "it" in Japanese, and can be used in various grammatical constructions. | |||
| Korean | 어느 | ||
| "어느" also means "some" in the expressions "어느 때", "어느 곳" (sometime, somewhere) etc. | |||
| Mongolian | аль нь | ||
| Аль нь may also refer to the Mongolian word for "what" or the interrogative pronoun "what". | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | ဘယ် | ||
| The word "ဘယ်" can also mean "left", "direction", or "path" in Myanmar. | |||
Which in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | yang | ||
| The word "yang" can also mean "that" or "the one who". | |||
| Javanese | kang | ||
| The word "kang" in Javanese also means "who" or "that person." | |||
| Khmer | ដែល | ||
| ដែល can also mean "that" or "who". | |||
| Lao | ເຊິ່ງ | ||
| In some cases, ເຊິ່ງ can also mean "the one" or "the one who" | |||
| Malay | yang mana | ||
| **Yang mana** has alternate usage to refer a place, especially an unspecified or distant place, similar to the word `where` in English. | |||
| Thai | ที่ | ||
| The Thai word "ที่" (which) also has the alternate meanings of "place" and "time". | |||
| Vietnamese | cái nào | ||
| The word "cái nào" in Vietnamese can also mean "what" or "which one" depending on the context. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | alin | ||
Which in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | hansı | ||
| The word | |||
| Kazakh | қайсысы | ||
| The word "қайсысы" (which) in Kazakh is derived from the Old Turkic word "kayï", meaning "who" or "what". | |||
| Kyrgyz | кайсы | ||
| In Kazakh and Kyrgyz, "кайсы" also means "which" or "what." | |||
| Tajik | ки | ||
| Tajik "ки" derives from Middle Persian "key" (meaning "which"), which is akin to Sanskrit "kim" and Avestan "kim." | |||
| Turkmen | haýsy | ||
| Uzbek | qaysi | ||
| The word "qaysi" in Uzbek can also mean "at what time" or "on what occasion". | |||
| Uyghur | قايسى | ||
Which in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | ka mea | ||
| Ka mea can also reference a person or thing with a specific trait or characteristic. | |||
| Maori | e | ||
| The word "e" in Māori can also refer to the passive tense of verbs and the definite article "the". | |||
| Samoan | lea | ||
| The word "lea" can also mean "maybe" or "perhaps" in Samoan. | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | alin | ||
| "Alin" can mean either "which" or "where" in Tagalog (Filipino). | |||
Which in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | kawkiri | ||
| Guarani | mba'eichagua | ||
Which in International Languages
| Esperanto | kiu | ||
| Kiu derives directly from the same word in Latin and means "who? What? Which?" | |||
| Latin | quod | ||
| The word "quod" also means "because" in Latin and is the origin of both "quote" and "quotation" in English. | |||
Which in Others Languages
| Greek | οι οποίες | ||
| In Ancient Greek, "οι οποίες" can also mean "as well as". | |||
| Hmong | uas | ||
| In Hmong, "uas" is used as a direct object pronoun, a subject pronoun, and sometimes as a noun meaning "thing" or "substance." | |||
| Kurdish | kîjan | ||
| The Kurdish word "kîjan" is derived from the Old Persian word "ciy" meaning "who, which, what" and is related to the Sanskrit word "kim" meaning "who, which, what". | |||
| Turkish | hangi | ||
| The word "hangi" can refer to either "which" or "any" depending on the context of the sentence. | |||
| Xhosa | eyiphi | ||
| Xhosa "eyiphi" is also cognate with Zulu "yiphi", with which it shares the etymological root "phi" (where). | |||
| Yiddish | וואָס | ||
| וואָס (vos) derives from the Proto-Germanic *hwaz "who" and has the additional meanings "who" and "what" in Yiddish. | |||
| Zulu | okuyi | ||
| The word 'okuyi' can also refer to a specific place, such as a homestead or a village. | |||
| Assamese | কোনটো | ||
| Aymara | kawkiri | ||
| Bhojpuri | कऊन | ||
| Dhivehi | ކޮންއެއްޗެއް | ||
| Dogri | जित | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | alin | ||
| Guarani | mba'eichagua | ||
| Ilocano | ania | ||
| Krio | us | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | کامە | ||
| Maithili | जकर | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯀꯔꯝꯕ | ||
| Mizo | khawi | ||
| Oromo | kam | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ଯାହା | ||
| Quechua | mayqin | ||
| Sanskrit | किम् | ||
| Tatar | кайсы | ||
| Tigrinya | አየናይ | ||
| Tsonga | xihi | ||