How to say “catch” in 33 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.
- תפס/taˈfas/ Hebrew
- பிடி/pɪɖiː/ Tamil
- പിടിക്ക്/piɖikkɨ/ Malayalam
“catch” in German: erwischt · Turkish: yakalamak
It is commonest in Malayalam, where പിടിക്ക് is the 203rd most used word.
Catch in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic أدرك/ʔad.ra.ka/ to reach, catch up with, overcome, overtake #856
- Bulgarian стигна[ˈstiɡnɐ] to catch up with, to overtake #1,208
- Catalan atrapat[ə.tɾəˈpat] to capture, to catch #1,681
- Chinese 看到/kʰän⁵¹⁻⁵³ tɑʊ̯⁵¹/ to catch sight of; to see #19
- Czech chytit[ˈxɪcɪt] to catch #1,496
- Danish fange/faŋə/ to catch, to capture #835
- Dutch gevangen/ɣəˈʋɑŋə(n)/ to catch #1,278
- English miss/mɪs/ To fail to hit, catch, grasp, etc #276
- Esperanto kaptu/ˈkaptu/ to catch, to capture #670
- Estonian püüdma/ˈpyːd̥mɑ/ to catch, to capture #1,936
- Galician acadar/akaˈdaɾ/ to reach; to grab; to catch #1,727
- German erwischt/ɛɾˈvɪʃt/ to catch #1,126
- Hebrew תפס/taˈfas/ to catch #1,476
- Icelandic loka[ˈlɔːka] latch, catch, bolt #631
- Italian trappola/ˈtrap.po.la/ trap, snare, catch #2,079
- Korean 탄[tʰan] a bird net used to catch birds #882
- Latvian ķer/ˈcær/ to catch #1,738
- Lithuanian pagauti/pɐˈɡɐʊtɪ/ to catch #1,544
- Macedonian фати[ˈfati] to catch #437
- Malay nampak/ˈnampak/ to see; to catch sight of; to perceive… #122
- Malayalam പിടിക്ക്/piɖikkɨ/ #203
- Norwegian fanget/ˈfɑŋət/ to catch, to capture #913
- Polish zobaczyć/zɔˈba.t͡ʂɘt͡ɕ/ to see; to catch sight of, to glimpse #256
- Romanian ajuns[aˈʒuns] to overtake, to catch up #261
- Russian увидеть[ʊˈvʲidʲɪtʲ] to see, to catch sight of, to notice #428
- Slovak chytať/xitac/ to catch #2,049
- Slovenian ujeli/uˈjeːli/ to catch #500
- Spanish coger/koˈxeɾ/ to take, catch, hold, to get, to seize #1,518
- Swedish fånga/ˈfɔŋa/ to catch #1,292
- Tagalog mahuli/maˈhuli/ to be able to catch someone or something #975
- Tamil பிடி/pɪɖiː/ to catch, grasp, seize, clutch #327
- Turkish yakalamak/ja.ka.ɫaˈmak/ to catch, apprehend #1,932
- Vietnamese bắt[ʔɓat̚˧˦] to seize; to catch #132
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 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.