Whose in Different Languages
Discover 'Whose' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Whose
Afrikaans wie se | ||
Albanian të cilit | ||
Amharic የማን | ||
Arabic ملك من | ||
Armenian ում | ||
Assamese কাৰ | ||
Aymara uka | ||
Azerbaijani kimin | ||
Bambara jɔn ta | ||
Basque zeinen | ||
Belarusian чый | ||
Bengali কার | ||
Bhojpuri केकर | ||
Bosnian čiji | ||
Bulgarian чия | ||
Catalan de qui | ||
Cebuano kang kinsa | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 谁的 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 誰的 | ||
Corsican quale | ||
Croatian čija | ||
Czech jehož | ||
Danish hvis | ||
Dhivehi އެމީހެއްގެ | ||
Dogri कोहदा | ||
Dutch van wie | ||
English whose | ||
Esperanto kies | ||
Estonian kelle oma | ||
Ewe ame ka tᴐ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) kaninong | ||
Finnish jonka | ||
French dont | ||
Frisian waans | ||
Galician de quen | ||
Georgian ვისი | ||
German deren | ||
Greek του οποίου | ||
Guarani máva mba’épa | ||
Gujarati જેનું | ||
Haitian Creole kiyès | ||
Hausa waye | ||
Hawaiian ka mea nāna | ||
Hebrew של מי | ||
Hindi किसका | ||
Hmong leej twg | ||
Hungarian akinek | ||
Icelandic hvers | ||
Igbo onye | ||
Ilocano asinno | ||
Indonesian yang | ||
Irish a bhfuil a | ||
Italian di chi | ||
Japanese その | ||
Javanese sing sapa | ||
Kannada ಯಾರ | ||
Kazakh кімдікі | ||
Khmer ដែល | ||
Kinyarwanda ninde | ||
Konkani कोणाचें | ||
Korean 누구의 | ||
Krio udat | ||
Kurdish yê wan | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) هی کێ | ||
Kyrgyz кимдики | ||
Lao ທີ່ | ||
Latin cuius | ||
Latvian kuru | ||
Lingala oyo | ||
Lithuanian kurio | ||
Luganda -aani | ||
Luxembourgish deenen hir | ||
Macedonian чиј | ||
Maithili केकर | ||
Malagasy izay | ||
Malay yang | ||
Malayalam ആരുടെ | ||
Maltese li | ||
Maori na wai hoki | ||
Marathi ज्याचे | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯀꯅꯥꯒꯤ | ||
Mizo tu ber | ||
Mongolian хэний | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ဘယ်သူလဲ | ||
Nepali जसको | ||
Norwegian hvem sin | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) amene | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଯାହାର | ||
Oromo kan | ||
Pashto د چا | ||
Persian که | ||
Polish którego | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) de quem | ||
Punjabi ਜਿਸਦਾ | ||
Quechua piqpa | ||
Romanian a caror | ||
Russian чья | ||
Samoan o ai e ana | ||
Sanskrit कस्य | ||
Scots Gaelic cò | ||
Sepedi yoo | ||
Serbian чији | ||
Sesotho eo | ||
Shona waani | ||
Sindhi ڪير | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) කාගේද? | ||
Slovak ktorého | ||
Slovenian čigar | ||
Somali yaa leh | ||
Spanish cuyo | ||
Sundanese saha | ||
Swahili ya nani | ||
Swedish vars | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) kanino | ||
Tajik ки | ||
Tamil யாருடைய | ||
Tatar кем | ||
Telugu ఎవరిది | ||
Thai ซึ่ง | ||
Tigrinya ናይ መን | ||
Tsonga swa mani | ||
Turkish kimin | ||
Turkmen kim | ||
Twi (Akan) a ne | ||
Ukrainian чия | ||
Urdu کس کی | ||
Uyghur كىمنىڭ | ||
Uzbek kimning | ||
Vietnamese ai | ||
Welsh y mae ei | ||
Xhosa kabani | ||
Yiddish וועמענס | ||
Yoruba tani | ||
Zulu kabani |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans "wie se" can mean "whose" in English but can also be "who is" when referring to an unknown person. |
| Albanian | The word "të cilit" can also mean "of which", "of whom" or "that" in Albanian. |
| Amharic | "የማን" means both "whose" and "who". |
| Armenian | "Whose" in Armenian, "ում," can refer to the subject in a genitive case or to a specific person or thing that is not a subject in a genitive case, and it can also mean "belonging to". |
| Azerbaijani | The word "kimin" in Azerbaijani is derived from the Persian word "kem" meaning "who" and the Azerbaijani suffix "-in" indicating possession. |
| Basque | The word "zeinen" in Basque can also mean "which" or "what" depending on the context. |
| Belarusian | "Чый" is also used in the sense of "which" or "what". |
| Bengali | "কার" also refers to "Brahman", a spiritual concept in Hinduism. |
| Bulgarian | The word "чия" in Bulgarian can also refer to the chia plant or chia seeds |
| Catalan | In Catalan, "de qui" can also mean "from whom" or "by whom". |
| Cebuano | Kang kinsa' also refers to the person or thing to whom something belongs |
| Chinese (Simplified) | In Classical Chinese, “谁的” (shuí de) could also be read as “shuòdǐ”, meaning “to ask who” or “to inquire after someone’s identity”. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 「誰的」在文言文中可指「誰是」或「誰在」 |
| Corsican | In the Corsican language, besides the common meaning of "whose", "quale" can also mean "who". |
| Croatian | In older Croatian, 'čija' referred to male or female ownership of an object and was only used in questions. |
| Czech | The word "jehož" can also be used as a preposition meaning "of whom" or "whereof". |
| Danish | Hvis (whose) is a relic case form of who, which can only be used as a complement. |
| Dutch | In Middle Dutch, "van wie" meant "of which person". |
| Esperanto | "Kies" is also used in questions to mean "Which", as in "kies filo?" ("Which file?") |
| Estonian | The Estonian word "kelle oma" has the same origin as the interrogative pronouns "kes" and "mis" and is related to the Finnish word "ken" (who). |
| Finnish | The word "jonka" can also mean "of which" or "that." |
| French | Contraction of de + ont, i.e., "of" + "they have". |
| Galician | The Galician word 'de quen' (whose) has the same origin as the Latin 'de quoin'. |
| Georgian | "ვისი" can also mean "the one of whom" or "the one to whom something belongs". |
| German | In German, "deren" (plural genitive feminine pronoun) is related to "der" (masculine) and "die" (feminine), and also to the demonstrative "derjenige" (that one). |
| Greek | In Greek the pronoun 'τού' (which) and the relative 'οποίος' can both translate as 'whose' in English, but 'τού' is used when 'the thing possessed' comes first in Greek. |
| Gujarati | The Gujarati word 'જેનું' (whose) can also mean 'of which' or 'of whom'. |
| Haitian Creole | In Haitian Creole kiyès can also be used as a question word meaning "who". |
| Hausa | The word "waye" in Hausa can also mean "who" and is related to the word "wani" meaning "one". |
| Hawaiian | In Hawaiian, "ka mea nāna" can also refer to the subject or possessor of a verb or noun. |
| Hebrew | The Hebrew word "של מי" means "whose" and is related to the Arabic word "شَل (shel)", meaning "who". |
| Hindi | Hindi "किसका" can also mean "who's" or "whom's", and originated from "कस्य", an oblique case form of "कः" (who). |
| Hmong | The Hmong word "leej twg" is derived from the verb "leej", meaning "to belong to" or "to own", and the question word "twg", meaning "who". |
| Hungarian | The word 'akinek' can also mean 'whoever' or 'whomever'. |
| Icelandic | Hvers is derived from the Old Norse “hverr,” meaning “who” or “which,” and is also related to the English “where.” |
| Igbo | The Igbo word "onye" can also mean "person" or "soul". |
| Indonesian | Yang can also mean 'who' or 'which' and is often used in formal or written language. |
| Italian | "Di chi" in Italian can mean "whose" or "of which". |
| Japanese | "その" can also refer to a place or time instead of a person, as in "その場所" (that place) or "その瞬間" (that moment). |
| Javanese | "Sapa" also means the first consonant in a Javanese syllable, e.g. "s" in the word "siji". |
| Kannada | In Kannada, "ಯಾರ" can also refer to a person's name or a title implying respect. |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "кімдікі" (kimdiki) is derived from the root "кім" (kim) meaning "who" and the suffix "-дікі" (-diki) indicating possession. |
| Khmer | The word "ដែល" ("whose") in Khmer is also used as a relative pronoun meaning "who", "which", or "that". |
| Korean | "누구의" originally meant "whose" but was later used to denote "who is the owner of?" or "who has?". |
| Kurdish | The Kurdish word "yê wan" has a similar root to the Armenian word "yovn" (his, hers, yours), which may have come from Akkadian. |
| Kyrgyz | The word "кимдики" has an etymology with the word “ким”, which means "who". |
| Lao | The word "ທີ່" can also mean "the one who" or "the one that". |
| Latin | "Cuius" can also mean "his" or "her" depending on the gender of the noun it modifies |
| Latvian | Despite meaning "whose" in Latvian, "kuru" can also mean "to dry off" in Russian. |
| Lithuanian | Curio is possibly related to the Latin words "cura" (care) and "curia" (a meeting of the Roman senate). |
| Luxembourgish | The word "deenen hir" is also used in the context of ownership, indicating "owned by" or "one whose something is." |
| Macedonian | In Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian, "чиј" can also mean "which". |
| Malagasy | The word "izay" in Malagasy also means "which" and "what". |
| Malay | The word "yang" in Malay can also mean "which" or "that". |
| Maltese | In Maltese, 'li' can also be used to indicate an object or animal. |
| Maori | The term "na wai hoki" can also be used to express surprise or disbelief, similar to the English phrase "who would have thought?" |
| Mongolian | The word "хэний" can also be used to refer to a "belonging to" relationship or to indicate possession. |
| Nepali | 'को' at the end of words denotes 'who' and is often seen in Hindi words borrowed in Nepali. |
| Norwegian | The Norwegian word "hvem sin" is an old genitive form of the word "hvem" (who). |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "amene" in Nyanja can also mean "very" or "even". |
| Pashto | Also can mean 'belonging to', 'of', or 'that of' |
| Persian | The Persian word "که" can also mean "who is," "who are," or "that" when used as a conjunction. |
| Polish | "Którego" can also mean "which". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word "de quem" is also used in Portuguese to ask "who?"} |
| Punjabi | The Punjabi word "ਜਿਸਦਾ" can also refer to "of whom" or "of which". |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "a caror" is derived from the Latin word "cuius", which also means "whose". |
| Russian | The possessive pronoun "чья" in Russian can also be used to refer to inanimate objects, while in English "whose" is typically only used for people or animals. |
| Samoan | As well as meaning "whose", "o ai e ana" can also be used as an interrogative phrase asking "who is it?" |
| Scots Gaelic | The Scots Gaelic word "cò" and the Irish word "cé" both derive from the Proto-Celtic word "ko-yo-s". |
| Serbian | The word "чији" can also mean "which" or "what" in Serbian and is related to the word "чиј" meaning "whose" in Bulgarian. |
| Sesotho | The word 'eo' in Sesotho is derived from the Proto-Bantu word '*ya', which also means 'of' and 'belonging to'. |
| Shona | The word "waani" in Shona can also be glossed as "by whom" or "through whom". |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "ڪير" ("whose") also means "who", "which", or "what" in other contexts. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | කාගේද? in Sinhala can also mean "who is he?" or "who is she?". |
| Slovak | Ktorého originates from the Proto-Slavic word *kterъ and the Sanskrit words katara "which" and katham "how", as well as the Latin word quot "how many". |
| Slovenian | Čigar can also mean "whose" or "whosever," with the former being its predominant use |
| Somali | "Yaa leh" can also mean "where" (geographically) in Somali. |
| Spanish | The word "cuyo" also means "of which" or "of whom" in Spanish. |
| Sundanese | "Saha" can also mean an affix used in negative commands or prohibitions. |
| Swahili | The word "ya nani" can also be used as a polite form of address, similar to "sir" or "madam" in English. |
| Swedish | In English, "vars" is used as a pronoun meaning "of whom", whereas in Swedish it can be used as a pronoun meaning "of which". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word "kanino" can also be used to ask "who" in a question. |
| Tajik | The word "ки" can also refer to the word "what" in Tajik. |
| Tamil | The Tamil word யாருடைய ("whose") originally meant "to desire." |
| Telugu | The word "ఎవరిది" can also refer to something that belongs to a group or an organization. |
| Thai | The word "ซึ่ง" (whose) in Thai is derived from the Pali word "so" (who), and can also mean "which" or "that". |
| Turkish | The word "kimin" can also refer to a type of Turkish yogurt soup made with wheat or barley. |
| Ukrainian | "Чия" is a possessive pronoun in Ukrainian that can also be used as a reflexive pronoun to indicate whose something is. |
| Urdu | The word "کس کی" can also refer to a person's share or portion of something. |
| Uzbek | In some dialects of Uzbek, "kimning" can also mean "who's". |
| Vietnamese | "Ai" can also be used as a noun meaning "love" or "affection" in Vietnamese. |
| Welsh | The root of the word "y mae ei" is the interrogative word "pa" meaning "who". |
| Xhosa | The word "kabani" in Xhosa can also mean "the one who has" or "the one who owns." |
| Yiddish | As an indefinite pronoun, the word can also refer to an unknown or indefinite person, and is often translated as "someone" or "somebody" in English. |
| Yoruba | The word 'tani' used as a question word can also be employed as a possessive pronoun to indicate a person or thing as belonging to a known person and also shows the gender of the noun modified. |
| Zulu | The Zulu word "kabani" (whose) is also used to refer to people or things that belong to someone or something. |
| English | ''Whose'' derives from Old English ''hwæs'', meaning ''who'' or ''which'', and is related to ''who'' and ''which''. |