Lying and telling the truth

[El Ganador]

In your languages, what is/are the verb(s) for 'lying' and 'telling the truth'? Are they one single word or are they more than one word long?

For example, in English:

'tell the truth' is a verb that is more than one word long (and I don't think there is any single-word synonym).
'lie' is a verb that is one word long.

In Spanish:

'decir la verdad' is a verb that means 'to tell the truth', and there seems to be no single-word synonym according to this thread: El opuesto de 'mentir'.
'mentir' is a verb that means 'to lie', and it is one word long.

In Hindi:

'सच बोलना/sach bolna' is a verb that means 'to tell the truth' (and I don't think there is any single-word synonym).
'झूठ बोलना/jhooth bolna' is a verb that means 'to lie' (and I don't think there is any single-word synonym).

 

[apmoy70]

Greek:

To tell the truth: «Λέω αλήθεια» [ˈle̞o̞ aˈliθça] --> to tell (the) truth. Truth is «αλήθεια» [aˈliθça] (fem.) < Classical fem. noun «ἀλήθεια» /ɐˈlɛːtʰeːɐ/.
The active verb «αληθεύω» [aliˈθe̞vo̞] < Classical active verb «ἀληθεύω» /ɐlɛːˈtʰeu̯ɔː/ means to tell the truth, be truthful but it's not commonly used, it's considered bookish. Its mediopassive form «αληθεύομαι» [aliˈθe̞vo̞me̞] on the other hand, often as a compound with the preposition «επί» [e̞ˈpi] --> on, upon < Classical preposition «ἐπί» /eˈpi/ > «επαληθεύομαι» [e̞paliˈθe̞vo̞me̞] is much more common and means to be verified, corroborated.

To tell a lie: «Ψεύδομαι» [ˈp͡s̠e̞vðo̞me̞] (deponent verb) < Classical verb «ψεύδομαι» /ˈp͡seu̯domai̯/ (deponent), a denominative from the ancient word for lie, «ψεῦδος» /ˈp͡seû̯dos/ (neut.). Its etymology is debated, could be of PIE origin, could be a substrate Pre-Greek word. The possibility of it being IE, is high, from a possible PIE root *ksʷeu̯d- and cognate the Armenian սուտ /sut/, false, lie.
There's also the periphrasis in every-day language, «λέω ψέμ(μ)ατα» [ˈle̞o̞ ˈp͡s̠e̞mata] --> to say lies (the object is in plural for emphasis). The predominant MoGr word for lie is «ψέμ(μ)α» [ˈp͡s̠e̞ma] (neut.) which is the Classical «ψεῦσμα» /ˈp͡seû̯smɐ/ with assimilation < «ψεῦδος».

 

[Welsh_Sion]

There are far more expressions for 'to tell a lie' or 'to lie' in Cymraeg/Welsh than 'to tell the truth'.

Telling the truth

dweud y gwir (≈ 'veritas')
saying the truth

Telling lies

dweud celwyddau
saying lies

celwydda
lying

eu dweud nhw
their saying them

palu celwyddau
excavating lies

rhaffu celwyddau
roping lies

eu rhaffu nhw
their roping them

dweud lỳrcs
saying 'lurks'

 

[Penyafort]

In Catalan, just as in many other European languages, there's one verb for lying but not for the opposite.

Dir la veritat /diləv(ə)ɾiˈtat/ 'to tell the truth' [From Latin dicere, 'say, tell', and veritate(m) , 'truth']​

Mentir /mənˈti/ 'to lie' [From Latin mentiri, from Latin mens mentis, 'to lie']​

Dir una mentida /diunəmən'tidə/ 'to tell a lie'​

Dir mentides /dimən'tidəs/ 'to tell lies, to lie on a regular basis'​

 

[Awwal12]

Russian works almost like English here:
to tell the truth (imperf.) = говорить правду (govorít' právdu) "tell/speak truth"
to lie = лгать (lgat'), врать (vrat'), but also говорить неправду (govorít' neprávdu) "tell/speak untruth" (by default intentionally as well, but the last expression itself isn't so direct and thus may be less insulting)

 

[El Ganador]

So, in Russian, Catalan, Spanish, and Cymraeg/Welsh, the verb for lying can be expressed as a single word (unlike the verb for telling the truth).

In Hindi, neither 'lying' nor 'telling the truth' can be expressed as a single verb.

In Greek, the word for 'lying' can be expressed as a single verb, but the single word for 'telling the truth' is not generally used.


Please correct me if I interpreted some language incorrectly; I only recognize the verbs in English, Hindi, and Spanish.

 

[KalAlbè]

Portuguese works practically the same as Spanish and the other Romance languages.

In Haitian Creole, manti (lie) can be both the noun and verb, but usually it's used as a noun.
E.g., bay manti, fè manti (give a lie, make a lie, respectively) = to lie

Di (la)verite = Literally, to tell the truth, so same as English in this regard

 

[sidoo]

i wanna know how we can say it in arabic?

 

[El Ganador]

i wanna know how we can say it in arabic?

According to Google Translate (someone should confirm this, since I can't understand Arabic):

To tell the truth: لتخبر الحقيقة (litukhbir alhaqiqa)

To lie: لتقول كذبه (litaqul kadhibah)

 

[Terio]

Portuguese works practically the same as Spanish and the other Romance languages.

In Haitian Creole, manti (lie) can be both the noun and verb, but usually it's used as a noun.
E.g., bay manti, fè manti (give a lie, make a lie, respectively) = to lie

Di (la)verite = Literally, to tell the truth, so same as English in this regard

French too : dire la vérité / mentir.

 

[alfaalfa]

Ciao,

In Catalan, just as in many other European languages, there's one verb for lying but not for the opposite.

just like in Italian
To tell the truth > dire la verità

The lie > bugia, menzogna, falsità, falso, frottola, fandonia, favola
To lie > mentire, dire una bugia, dire una menzogna......

 

[Penyafort]

The lie > bugia, menzogna, falsità, falso, frottola, fandonia, favola
To lie > mentire, dire una bugia, dire una menzogna......

I always wondered about the Italian bugia, since in other Romance languages it has to do with candles and spark plugs. But apparently the origin is different and rather related to the English boast and the German böse ('bad, evil').

 

[alfaalfa]

spark plugs

Really? This one?

We call it candela.



In relation with the candles we call bugia this one

 

[AutumnOwl]

Swedish:
Tala sanning - talk truth
Berätta sanningen - tell the truth

Ljuga - lie
Tala osanning - talk untruth

 

[Shirleen]

interesting topic!

In simplified Chinese:

tell the truth: 说实话 shuo shihua
lying: 说谎 shuo huang

Both are the most basic expressions. 说 is a verb means "to tell"; 实话 is a noun means "the truth" and “谎” is a noun means "lie". (we don't specifically distinguish between the singular and plural.)
You may replace 说 with 讲（jiang）, 实话 with 真话（zhenhua）, 谎 with 假话（jiahua）, but in conclusion it always consists of a verb and a noun

In Japanese：
tell the truth: 真実を語る shinjitsu wo kataru
lying: 嘘をつくuso wo tsuku

を is an auxiliary word, so the structure will be: noun+を+verb
in spoken language, 嘘, a noun, can be used to express "you are lying". it's quite mild, like English word "seriously?"

 

[Mahaodeh]

i wanna know how we can say it in arabic?

يَصدُق: yaSduq = to tell the truth
يَكذِب: yakthib = to lie.

Both use a single verb.

 

[kwak22]

In Russian, there's a subtle semantic difference between врать and лгать (both mean "to lie", as it was said earlier).
- Лгать: to tell consciously things that aren't what one knows to be the case.
- Врать: to tell things without caring for their solidness, to choose to ignore the truth.
I think this difference has a certain correspondence with the difference between the words истина and правда. Both mean "the truth", however:
- Истина comes from the adjective истый, which means originally "that very same", "the one in question", but conversationally "genuine" (истая христианка: a genuine Christian). So, the noun means "things that conform to reality".
- Правда comes from the adjective правый, which means "right" or "rightful" (правое дело: the right cause). So, the noun means "things that one would be upright to believe in".
So, these two words describe more or less the same thing, just like "the Morning Star" and "the Evening Star" which both mean "Venus". However, they're not completely interchangeable. And, as one could see, the difference is one of being rooted in objectivity (истина) or in subjectivity (правда), just like the difference between лгать and врать. I'm not saying about their being objective or subjective themselves, for that may differ in every case, but only about their being rooted in objectivity or in subjectivity, correspondingly.
There's also a separate verb обманывать, which means "to deceive".