“Please” is a polite and common word we use to make requests more courteous. The word for “please” can vary significantly across languages and cultures, highlighting the diverse ways we express politeness. In this article, we’ll explore how the word for “please” is expressed in different languages around the world, from the most commonly spoken languages to some of the lesser-known ones.
Here is a list of how to say “please” in 70 different languages:
- Albanian (🇦🇱) – Ju lutem | Pronunciation: Yoo loo-tem
- Arabic (Standard) (🇸🇦) – من فضلك (Min fadlik) | Pronunciation: Min fad-lik
- Armenian (🇦🇲) – Խնդրում եմ (Khndrum em) | Pronunciation: Khun-droo-em
- Azerbaijani (🇦🇿) – Zəhmət olmasa | Pronunciation: Zeh-met ol-ma-sa
- Basque (🇪🇸) – Mesedez | Pronunciation: Me-se-dez
- Belarusian (🇧🇾) – Калі ласка (Kali laska) | Pronunciation: Ka-lee las-ka
- Bengali (🇧🇩) – অনুগ্রহ করে (Onugroho kore) | Pronunciation: O-noo-gro-ho ko-re
- Bosnian (🇧🇦) – Molim | Pronunciation: Mo-leem
- Bulgarian (🇧🇬) – Моля (Molya) | Pronunciation: Mo-lya
- Catalan (🇪🇸 – Catalonia) – Si us plau | Pronunciation: See oos plow
- Czech (🇨🇿) – Prosím | Pronunciation: Pro-seem
- Danish (🇩🇰) – Venligst | Pronunciation: Ven-leest
- Dutch (🇳🇱) – Alsjeblieft | Pronunciation: Al-sha-bleeft
- English (🇺🇸 / 🇬🇧) – Please | Pronunciation: Pleez
- Estonian (🇪🇪) – Palun | Pronunciation: Pa-lun
- Farsi (Persian) (🇮🇷) – لطفاً (Lotfan) | Pronunciation: Lot-fan
- Finnish (🇫🇮) – Ole hyvä | Pronunciation: O-le hy-va
- French (🇫🇷) – S’il vous plaît | Pronunciation: Seel voo pleh
- Georgian (🇬🇪) – გთხოვთ (Gt’khovt) | Pronunciation: Gt-khov-t
- German (🇩🇪) – Bitte | Pronunciation: Bit-te
- Greek (🇬🇷) – Παρακαλώ (Parakaló) | Pronunciation: Pa-ra-ka-lo
- Hebrew (🇮🇱) – בבקשה (Bevakasha) | Pronunciation: Be-va-ka-sha
- Hindi (🇮🇳) – कृपया (Kripya) | Pronunciation: Kri-pya
- Hungarian (🇭🇺) – Kérem | Pronunciation: Kee-rem
- Icelandic (🇮🇸) – Vinsamlegast | Pronunciation: Vin-sam-le-gast
- Indonesian (🇮🇩) – Tolong | Pronunciation: To-long
- Irish Gaelic (🇮🇪) – Le do thoil | Pronunciation: Le do hil
- Italian (🇮🇹) – Per favore | Pronunciation: Per fa-vo-re
- Japanese (🇯🇵) – お願いします (Onegaishimasu) | Pronunciation: O-ne-gai-shi-masu
- Kazakh (🇰🇿) – Өтінемін (Ötinemin) | Pronunciation: Ö-ti-ne-min
- Khmer (Cambodian) (🇰🇭) – សូម (Som) | Pronunciation: Som
- Korean (🇰🇷) – 제발 (Jebal) | Pronunciation: Je-bal
- Kurdish (🇮🇶 / 🇸🇾 / 🇹🇷 / 🇮🇷) – Ji kerema xwe | Pronunciation: Ji ke-re-ma kh-we
- Kyrgyz (🇰🇬) – Сураныч (Suranych) | Pronunciation: Su-ra-nych
- Lao (🇱�■) – ກະລຸນາ (Kaluna) | Pronunciation: Ka-lu-na
- Latvian (🇱�■) – Lūdzu | Pronunciation: Lood-zoo
- Lithuanian (🇱�■) – Prašau | Pronunciation: Pra-shau
- Luxembourgish (🇱🇺) – Wann ech gelift | Pronunciation: Wan ech ge-lift
- Macedonian (🇲�■) – Ве молам (Ve molam) | Pronunciation: Ve mo-lam
- Malay (🇲🇾 / 🇮🇩) – Tolong | Pronunciation: To-long
- Maltese (🇲�■) – Jekk jogħġbok | Pronunciation: Yekk yo-jbok
- Mandarin Chinese (🇨🇳) – 请 (Qǐng) | Pronunciation: Ching
- Marathi (🇮🇳) – कृपया (Kripaya) | Pronunciation: Kri-pa-ya
- Mongolian (🇲🇳) – Гуйя (Guiya) | Pronunciation: Goo-ya
- Nepali (🇳🇵) – कृपया (Kripaya) | Pronunciation: Kri-pa-ya
- Norwegian (🇳🇴) – Vennligst | Pronunciation: Ven-ligst
- Pashto (🇦🇫) – لطفاً (Lotfan) | Pronunciation: Lot-fan
- Polish (🇵🇱) – Proszę | Pronunciation: Pro-she
- Portuguese (🇵🇹 / 🇧🇷) – Por favor | Pronunciation: Por fa-vor
- Romanian (🇷🇴) – Vă rog | Pronunciation: Vă rog
- Russian (🇷🇺) – Пожалуйста (Pozhaluysta) | Pronunciation: Po-zha-lus-ta
- Serbian (🇷🇸) – Молим (Molim) | Pronunciation: Mo-lim
- Sinhala (🇱�■) – කරුණාකර (Karunakara) | Pronunciation: Ka-ru-na-ka-ra
- Slovak (🇸🇰) – Prosím | Pronunciation: Pro-seem
- Slovenian (🇸�■) – Prosim | Pronunciation: Pro-seem
- Somali (🇸🇴) – Fadlan | Pronunciation: Fad-lan
- Spanish (🇪🇸) – Por favor | Pronunciation: Por fa-vor
- Swahili (🇰🇪 / 🇹🇿) – Tafadhali | Pronunciation: Ta-fa-dha-li
- Swedish (🇸🇪) – Snälla | Pronunciation: Snel-la
- Tajik (🇹🇯) – Лутфан (Lutfan) | Pronunciation: Loot-fan
- Tamil (🇮🇳) – தயவு செய்து (Tayavu Seythu) | Pronunciation: Ta-ya-vu sey-dhu
- Telugu (🇮🇳) – దయచేసి (Dayachesi) | Pronunciation: Da-ya-che-si
- Thai (🇹🇭) – กรุณา (Karuna) | Pronunciation: Ka-ru-na
- Turkish (🇹🇷) – Lütfen | Pronunciation: Lüt-fen
- Ukrainian (🇺🇦) – Будь ласка (Bud’ laska) | Pronunciation: Bud’ las-ka
- Urdu (🇵🇰) – براہ مہربانی (Barah e meharbani) | Pronunciation: Ba-rah-e meh-r-ba-ni
- Uzbek (🇺�■) – Iltimos | Pronunciation: Il-ti-mos
- Vietnamese (🇻🇳) – Làm ơn | Pronunciation: Lam un
- Welsh (🇬🇧 – Wales) – Os gwelwch yn dda | Pronunciation: Os gwel-wch yn tha
- Zulu (🇿🇦) – Ngiyacela | Pronunciation: Ngee-ya-ce-la