How to say “able” in 47 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.
It is commonest in Slovak, where schopný is the 615th most used word.
Able in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian mund/ˈmund/ can, to be able to; to have the opportunity,… #22
- Arabic استطاع/istatˤaːʕa/ to be able to, to be capable of, can #2,202
- Armenian կարող/kɑˈɾoʁ/ capable, competent, able #29
- Bengali পারে/paɾe/ can; to be able #67
- Bosnian mogu/ˈmoɡʊ/ can, to be able to #41
- Bulgarian мога[ˈmɔɡɐ] to know how to do something, can, be able to #56
- Catalan puc[ˈpuk] to be able; can #71
- Chinese 能夠/nɤŋ³⁵ koʊ̯⁵¹/ can; to be able to; to be capable of #1,523
- Croatian mogu/ˈmoɡʊ/ can, to be able to #46
- Czech mohl[ˈmoɦl̩] can, be able to #135
- Danish kan[ˈkʰanˀ] to be able, can #24
- Dutch kan/kɑn/ can, to be able to #41
- English will[wɪɫ] To be able to, to have the capacity to #64
- Esperanto povas/ˈpovas/ to be able to; can #31
- Estonian võib/ˈvɤi̯b̥/ to be able, can, to have the ability to do… #132
- Finnish voinut/ˈvoinut/ can, to be able to, to be capable #280
- French peux/pø/ can, to be able to #81
- Galician capaz[kɑˈpaθ] able, capable #1,381
- Georgian შემიძლია[ʃe̞mid͡zliä] to be able to #69
- German kann/kan/ to be able, to have the possibility of, can #51
- Greek μπορώ/boˈɾo/ I can, be able #64
- Hebrew יכול/jaˈχol/ can, to be able to #30
- Hindi सकते/sək.t̪eː/ to be able #43
- Hungarian látszik[ˈlaːt͡sːik] to be visible, to be able to be seen #738
- Icelandic get/cɛːt/ can, to be able #61
- Indonesian publik/ˈpublik/ able to be seen or known by everyone; open to… #1,672
- Italian posso/ˈpɔs.so/ can, could; to be able to #87
- Latvian var/ˈʋar/ can; to be able to #88
- Lithuanian gali[ɡɐˈlʲɪ] to be able to; can, may #56
- Macedonian може[ˈmɔʒɛ] to be able #44
- Malay boleh[bo.leh] To be able to; can #19
- Malayalam പറ്റുക/pɐrruɡɐ/ to be able, happen #1,534
- Norwegian dyktig/ˈdʏktɪ/ able, capable, competent, proficient, skilled #1,959
- Persian قابل[qɒː.bél̥] qualified; able; competent #421
- Polish mogę/ˈmɔ.ɡɛ/ to be able; can; may, might expressing lack… #52
- Portuguese pode/ˈpɔ.d͡ʒi/ to be able to; can #75
- Romanian pot[pot] to be able to; can, could, may #53
- Russian могу[mɐˈɡu] can, be able to #62
- Serbian mogu/ˈmoɡʊ/ can, to be able to #41
- Slovak schopný/sxɔpniː/ able, capable #615
- Slovenian moči/mɔ̀ːt͡ʃi/ can, to be able #342
- Spanish puedo/ˈpwedo/ to be able to, can #65
- Swedish kan/kanː/ "to can", to be able to #25
- Tagalog kaya/ˈkaja/ ably; in an able manner #46
- Tamil கில்/kɪl/ to be able or possible #1,472
- Ukrainian здатний[ˈzdatnei̯] able, capable #2,359
- Vietnamese nổi[noj˧˩] be able to; to be capable of; to be in a… #449
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 Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), 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.