How to say “begin” in 45 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 Basque, where hasi is the 120th most used word.
- Albanian filluar to start, to begin #491
- Arabic بدأ to begin #337
- Armenian սկսել to begin, to start, to commence #1,108
- Basque hasi to begin, start #120
- Bosnian počinje to begin, start, commence #860
- Bulgarian започна to begin, to start, to commence #455
- Catalan començar to begin, to start something #322
- Chinese 開始 to start; to begin; to commence #345
- Croatian početi to begin, start, commence #718
- Czech začít to begin, to start #645
- Danish begynder to start, begin, commence, open #488
- Dutch beginnen to begin #416
- English become begin to be; turn into #522
- Esperanto komencis to start, begin #562
- Estonian hakkama to start, begin #292
- Finnish alkaa to begin, start, initiate, set in, be… #352
- French commence to begin, commence #552
- Galician comezar to start, begin, commence #630
- Georgian დავიწყოთ to begin, to start, to initiate #565
- German anfangen to begin; to commence #912
- Greek άρχισε to start, begin #921
- Hebrew התחיל to start, to begin #693
- Hungarian kezd to begin, start #947
- Icelandic byrja to begin #292
- Italian inizio to begin, to set about #614
- Latvian sākt to begin, to start #690
- Lithuanian pradėti to begin, to start #437
- Macedonian почнува to begin, initiate #796
- Malayalam തുടങ്ങുക to begin; start #1,951
- Norwegian begynner to begin, start #367
- Polish zacząć to start, to begin #837
- Portuguese começar to start; to begin; to commence #377
- Romanian început to begin, to commence #293
- Russian начать to begin, to start, to commence #757
- Serbian počinje to begin, start, commence #789
- Slovak začať to start, to begin #409
- Slovenian začeti to begin, to start #566
- Spanish empezar to start, begin, to get started #614
- Swedish börjar to begin; to start #277
- Tagalog magsimula to start; to begin; to commence #810
- Tamil துவங்கு to commence, start, begin #1,048
- Telugu ప్రారంభించారు to begin, start #297
- Turkish başladı to begin, to start #435
- Ukrainian почати to begin, to start, to commence #1,068
- Vietnamese khởi to start; to begin; to initiate #994
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.