How to say “act” in 49 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 Romanian, where face is the 55th most used word.
- Afrikaans aanval An act of aggression; assault, attack #515
- Arabic مهلا act slowly, gently, leisurely! #260
- Armenian շնորհավորում congratulation, the act of congratulating #370
- Basque arnasa breath, act of breathing #470
- Bengali দৃষ্টি act of seeing or viewing #790
- Bosnian čin action, act, deed #2,002
- Bulgarian дело work, deed, act #1,182
- Catalan acte #1,125
- Chinese 表演 to perform; to act; to play #259
- Croatian čin action, act, deed #1,896
- Czech činu action, act, deed #1,312
- Danish løbet run, the act of running #1,053
- Dutch aanval an act of aggression; assault, attack #1,045
- English anything Any object, act, state, event, or fact… #142
- Esperanto revido the act of seeing again; a reunion #534
- Estonian käituma to behave, to act #2,009
- Finnish toimi to serve, act, work #643
- French agit to act, to do #776
- Georgian სვლა an act of walking #913
- German hilfe the act of helping, assistance #319
- Greek πτήση flight, the act of flying #1,338
- Hebrew מכירה Sale, a sale: the act of selling #449
- Hindi पकड़ the act of grasping, holding #424
- Hungarian szabad free to move or act according to one's will #397
- Icelandic fundum an act of finding; discovery #680
- Indonesian paham the act of understanding or comprehension #420
- Italian atto act, deed #2,033
- Korean 짓 a physical act or movement #475
- Latvian rīkoties to act, to make a move #1,346
- Lithuanian veikti to act, work, function, operate, affect #701
- Macedonian дело work, deed, act #1,082
- Malay berbuat to do; to act; to perform an action #706
- Malayalam പ്രവൃത്തി act, action #1,290
- Norwegian handler to act #500
- Polish udało to act, to feign #558
- Portuguese agir to do something; to act; to function; to… #1,628
- Romanian face to do, act #55
- Russian преступление crime, criminal act, offense #1,926
- Serbian čin action, act, deed #1,903
- Slovak čin action, act, deed #1,462
- Slovenian dejanje action, act #787
- Spanish acción action, act, deed #1,221
- Swedish verkar to work, to act #258
- Tagalog tulad act of copying or imitating #98
- Tamil செய்தி act, deed, action #222
- Telugu చర్య act, deed, conduct, mode, rite, fashion #414
- Turkish çıkış act or way of going out of, getting out of,… #1,273
- Ukrainian діяти to act, to proceed #1,837
- Vietnamese diễn to act; to perform #445
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.