How to say “action” in 46 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.
- acción/aɡˈθjon/ Spanish
- δράση/ˈðɾa.si/ Greek
- פעולה/pe.(ʔ)uˈla/ Hebrew
- عمل[ʔæ.mǽl̥] Persian
“action” in Spanish: acción · Turkish: hareket · Greek: δράση
It is commonest in Persian, where عمل is the 424th most used word.
Action in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans aktiveer/ˌɐktiˈfiər/ to activate, put into action #2,235
- Albanian veprim/vɛpɹim/ #1,525
- Armenian բերում/beˈɾum/ the action of bringing, fetching #433
- Bengali কর্ম/kɔɾmo/ deed, action, work #1,797
- Bosnian čin/t͡ʃîːn/ action, act, deed #2,002
- Bulgarian действие[ˈdɛjstviɛ] #1,562
- Catalan acció[ək.siˈo] #1,613
- Chinese 行事/ɕiŋ³⁵ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ to take action; to act #1,273
- Croatian čin/t͡ʃîːn/ action, act, deed #1,896
- Czech činu[ˈt͡ʃɪnu] action, act, deed #1,312
- Dutch stoppen/ˈstɔpə(n)/ an action of stopping, cessation #430
- English would/(w)ʊ(l)d/ Used to, did repeatedly, habitually;… #86
- Esperanto stultaĵo/stulˈtaʒo/ stupid action; stupidity #1,831
- Estonian tegu/ˈteɡ̊u/ action, deed, doing #689
- Finnish käsin/ˈkæsin/ Indicates source of action #2,291
- French coup/ku/ sound of the action #289
- Galician acción/akˈθjoŋ/ #766
- Georgian ვერ[ve̞ɾ] Used to negate an action that one is unable… #33
- German wieder/ˈvɪdɐ/ again; indicates that the action taking place… #95
- Greek δράση/ˈðɾa.si/ #1,810
- Hebrew פעולה/pe.(ʔ)uˈla/ an action, a move #772
- Hindi कार्रवाई/kɑːɾ.ɾə.ʋɑː.iː/ operation, action #1,440
- Hungarian tettek[ˈtɛtːɛk] action, act, deed #1,896
- Indonesian melakukan/məlaˈkukan/ to do, to perform, to take action #79
- Italian processo/proˈt͡ʃɛs.so/ trial, action, lawsuit, suit, proceedings #1,171
- Korean 인형[inʝʌ̹ŋ] doll, puppet, action figure, any small human… #1,094
- Latvian jau[ˈjàu̯] used to indicate that an action or event has… #50
- Lithuanian veiksmas[²ˈʋʲɛɪˑksmɐs] act, action #1,511
- Macedonian акција[ˈakt͡si(j)a] #1,037
- Malay melakukan/məlaˈkukan/ to do, to perform, to take action #174
- Malayalam പ്രവൃത്തി/prɐʋrɨt̪t̪i/ act, action #1,290
- Persian عمل[ʔæ.mǽl̥] #424
- Polish akcji/ˈak.t͡sji/ action, mission, campaign, operation #1,954
- Romanian plimbare/plimˈbaɾe/ the action of walking #1,213
- Russian по[pə] used broadly to indicate action, typically… #43
- Serbian čin/t͡ʃîːn/ action, act, deed #1,903
- Slovak akcia/akt͡sia/ #1,309
- Slovenian dejanje/dɛjáːnjɛ/ action, act #787
- Spanish acción/aɡˈθjon/ action, act, deed #1,221
- Swedish fungerar/ˈfɵnɡeːˌrar/ function; to be in action #670
- Tagalog sa/sa/ the recipient or beneficiary of an action:… #2
- Tamil செய்தி/tʃɛjd̪iː/ act, deed, action #222
- Telugu కర్మ/ˈkarma/ act, deed, action #1,287
- Turkish hareket/haɾeˈcet/ #445
- Urdu کام/kɑːm/ task, action, work #65
- Vietnamese đã[ʔɗaː˦ˀ˥] having completed this action, perfect aspect #9
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.