How to say “act” in 49 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.
- செய்தி/tʃɛjd̪iː/ Tamil
- പ്രവൃത്തി/prɐʋrɨt̪t̪i/ Malayalam
- చర్య[tʃarja] Telugu
- діяти[ˈdʲijɐte] Ukrainian
“act” in French: agit · Italian: atto
It is commonest in Tamil, where செய்தி is the 222nd most used word.
Act in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans aanval/ˈɑːnfɐl/ An act of aggression; assault, attack #515
- Arabic مهلا/mah.lan/ act slowly, gently, leisurely! #260
- Armenian շնորհավորում/ʃnoɾɑvoˈɾum/ congratulation, the act of congratulating #370
- Basque arnasa/arnas̺a/ breath, act of breathing #470
- Bengali দৃষ্টি/d̪ɾiʃʈi/ act of seeing or viewing #790
- Bosnian čin/t͡ʃîːn/ action, act, deed #2,002
- Bulgarian дело[ˈdɛɫo] work, deed, act #1,182
- Catalan acte[ˈak.tə] #1,125
- Chinese 表演/pi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ jɛn²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ to perform; to act; to play #259
- Croatian čin/t͡ʃîːn/ action, act, deed #1,896
- Czech činu[ˈt͡ʃɪnu] action, act, deed #1,312
- Danish løbet[ˈløˀb̥əð] run, the act of running #1,053
- Dutch aanval/ˈaːn.vɑl/ an act of aggression; assault, attack #1,045
- English anything/ˈɛn.i.θɪŋ/ Any object, act, state, event, or fact… #142
- Esperanto revido/reˈvido/ the act of seeing again; a reunion #534
- Estonian käituma/ˈkæi̯tumɑ/ to behave, to act #2,009
- Finnish toimi/ˈtoi̯mi/ to serve, act, work #643
- French agit/a.ʒi/ to act, to do #776
- Georgian სვლა[sʷɫä] an act of walking #913
- German hilfe/ˈhɪlfə/ the act of helping, assistance #319
- Greek πτήση/ˈptisi/ flight, the act of flying #1,338
- Hebrew מכירה/məχiːˈʀɔː/ Sale, a sale: the act of selling #449
- Hindi पकड़/pə.kəɽ/ the act of grasping, holding #424
- Hungarian szabad[ˈsɒbɒd] free to move or act according to one's will #397
- Icelandic fundum/ˈfʏntʏm/ an act of finding; discovery #680
- Indonesian paham/ˈpaham/ the act of understanding or comprehension #420
- Italian atto/ˈat.to/ act, deed #2,033
- Korean 짓[t͡ɕi(ː)t̚] a physical act or movement #475
- Latvian rīkoties[ˈɾìːkuɔ̯̂tiɛ̯̂s] to act, to make a move #1,346
- Lithuanian veikti[²ˈʋʲɛɪˑktʲɪ] to act, work, function, operate, affect #701
- Macedonian дело[ˈdɛɫɔ] work, deed, act #1,082
- Malay berbuat/bər.buat/ to do; to act; to perform an action #706
- Malayalam പ്രവൃത്തി/prɐʋrɨt̪t̪i/ act, action #1,290
- Norwegian handler/ˈhɑndlər/ to act #500
- Polish udało/uˈda.wɔ/ to act, to feign #558
- Portuguese agir/aˈʒi(ʁ)/ to do something; to act; to function; to… #1,628
- Romanian face/ˈfat͡ʃe/ to do, act #55
- Russian преступление[prʲɪstʊˈplʲenʲɪje] crime, criminal act, offense #1,926
- Serbian čin/t͡ʃîːn/ action, act, deed #1,903
- Slovak čin/t͡ʃin/ action, act, deed #1,462
- Slovenian dejanje/dɛjáːnjɛ/ action, act #787
- Spanish acción/aɡˈθjon/ action, act, deed #1,221
- Swedish verkar/ˈvɛrkar/ to work, to act #258
- Tagalog tulad/ˈtulad/ act of copying or imitating #98
- Tamil செய்தி/tʃɛjd̪iː/ act, deed, action #222
- Telugu చర్య[tʃarja] act, deed, conduct, mode, rite, fashion #414
- Turkish çıkış/t͡ʃɯˈkɯʃ/ act or way of going out of, getting out of,… #1,273
- Ukrainian діяти[ˈdʲijɐte] to act, to proceed #1,837
- Vietnamese diễn[ziən˦ˀ˥] to act; to perform #445
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.