How to say “ability” in 32 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- 才能/t͡sʰaɪ̯³⁵ nɤŋ³⁵/ Chinese
- 줄[t͡ɕuɭ] Korean
- ικανότητα/ˌikaˈnotiˌta/ Greek
- കഴിവ്/kɐɻiʋɨ/ Malayalam
“ability” in German: fähigkeiten · Chinese: 才能 · Korean: 줄 · Greek: ικανότητα
It is commonest in Icelandic, where getur is the 67th most used word.
Ability in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian aftësi/äftəˈsi/ skill, ability, proficiency #1,527
- Armenian շնորհք/ʃəˈnoɾkʰ/ gift, talent, ability #1,390
- Bosnian sposobnost/sposǒːbnoːst/ #2,408
- Catalan habilitats[ə.βi.liˈtats] ability, skill #2,043
- Chinese 才能/t͡sʰaɪ̯³⁵ nɤŋ³⁵/ ability; talent; competence #140
- Croatian sposobnost/sposǒːbnoːst/ #2,465
- Czech schopnost[ˈsxopnost] skill, ability #2,222
- Danish evner/ˈɛwnɐ/ #1,501
- Dutch gezicht/ɣəˈzɪxt/ seeing, the ability to observe visually,… #504
- English power/ˈpaʊ̯.ɚ/ The ability to do or undergo something #500
- Esperanto povon/ˈpovon/ #1,976
- Estonian võib/ˈvɤi̯b̥/ to be able, can, to have the ability to do… #132
- German fähigkeiten/ˈfɛːɪçˌkaɪtən/ ability, capability #2,488
- Greek ικανότητα/ˌikaˈnotiˌta/ ability, capacity, capability, competence,… #2,329
- Hebrew כוח/ˈko.aχ/ Strength: the physical ability to do work, to… #520
- Hindi बोलती/boːl.t̪iː/ ability to speak, speaking #2,181
- Icelandic getur/ˈcɛːtʏr/ #67
- Indonesian kemampuan/kəmamˈpuan/ #1,038
- Korean 줄[t͡ɕuɭ] ability, method; how to #70
- Latvian spēju/ˈspeːju/ #896
- Macedonian способност[ˈspɔsɔbnɔst] ability, capability, capacity, competence,… #2,060
- Malay bakat/ˈbakat/ #1,169
- Malayalam കഴിവ്/kɐɻiʋɨ/ ability, potential #551
- Persian قادر[qɒː.d̪éɹ] able; with the ability to #1,336
- Serbian sposobnost/sposǒːbnoːst/ #2,446
- Slovak schopnosť/sxɔpnɔsc/ skill, ability #984
- Swedish förmåga/ˈfœrmoːˌɡa/ ability, skill #2,489
- Tagalog kakayahan/kakajaˈhan/ ability; skill #1,425
- Tamil சக்தி/tʃɐkt̪iː/ power, ability, energy, force, strength #644
- Turkish yetenek/je.teˈnec/ skill, ability #2,311
- Urdu اوقات/ɔː.qɑːt̪/ means, capacity, ability #745
- Vietnamese được[ʔɗɨək̚˧˨ʔ] particle that expresses ability, possibility #15
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.