How to say “cause” in 48 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.
- causa/ˈkausa/ Spanish
- причина[prʲɪˈt͡ɕinə] Russian
- 原因/ɥɛn³⁵ in⁵⁵/ Chinese
- कारण/kɑː.ɾəɳ/ Hindi
- αιτία/eˈtia/ Greek
- סיבה/sibˈbaː/ Hebrew
“cause” in Spanish: causa · Italian: causa · Portuguese: causa · Chinese: 原因 · Russian: причина · Hindi: कारण · Greek: αιτία
It is commonest in Telugu, where గత is the 130th most used word.
Cause in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans laat/lɑːt/ to cause to, to make; forms a causative phrase #57
- Albanian shkak/ʃkak/ reason, cause #449
- Arabic أذهب/ʔaðhaba/ to cause to go away, to make disappear, to… #165
- Armenian պատճառ/pɑtˈt͡ʃɑr/ reason, cause #332
- Basque arrazoi/aras̻oi̯/ cause, reason #226
- Bengali করানো/kɔɾano/ to cause to make or do #1,314
- Bosnian razlog/rǎːzloɡ/ reason, cause #529
- Bulgarian причина[priˈt͡ʃinɐ] cause, reason #447
- Catalan causa[ˈkaw.zə] #976
- Chinese 原因/ɥɛn³⁵ in⁵⁵/ cause; reason #131
- Croatian razlog/rǎːzloɡ/ reason, cause #514
- Danish formål/ˈfɒːˌmɔːˀl/ purpose, cause #1,999
- Dutch laat/laːt/ to leave, to cause to remain in the same… #84
- English because/bɪkəz/ By or for the cause that; on this account… #119
- Esperanto igis/ˈiɡis/ to cause to be, to cause to do, to make #1,217
- Estonian põhjus/ˈpɤhjus/ cause, reason #682
- Finnish tarkoitus/ˈtɑrkoi̯tus/ end, purpose, cause #1,052
- French marier/ma.ʁje/ to marry, to marry off; to perform or cause… #1,209
- Galician causa/ˈkawsa/ #821
- Greek αιτία/eˈtia/ cause, reason #1,756
- Hebrew סיבה/sibˈbaː/ #439
- Hindi कारण/kɑː.ɾəɳ/ #175
- Hungarian ok[ˈok] #527
- Icelandic valda[ˈvalta] to cause #994
- Indonesian serangan/səˈraŋan/ an attempt to cause damage, injury to, or… #654
- Italian causa/ˈkaw.sa/ #616
- Korean 와서[wasʌ] informal non-polite cause/reason form of 오다 #238
- Latvian iemesls/ˈiemesl̩s/ #692
- Lithuanian priežastis/priəʒɐsˈtɪs/ cause, reason #685
- Macedonian причина[ˈprit͡ʃina] cause, reason #366
- Malay serangan/səˈraŋan/ an attempt to cause damage, injury to, or… #488
- Malayalam നിർത്തുക/n̪irt̪t̪uɡɐ/ to cause to stop moving #1,918
- Norwegian satt/satː/ to seat someone; to cause someone to assume a… #475
- Persian باعث[bɒː.ʔés] cause, motive #175
- Polish powodu/pɔˈvɔ.du/ cause, reason #370
- Portuguese causa/ˈkaw.zɐ/ to cause #348
- Romanian cauza/kaˈuza/ #364
- Russian причина[prʲɪˈt͡ɕinə] #950
- Serbian razlog/rǎːzloɡ/ reason, cause #538
- Slovak dôvod/du̯ɔvɔt/ reason, cause, motive #290
- Slovenian obesiti/ɔbèːsiti/ to hang, to cause to be suspended #1,721
- Spanish causa/ˈkausa/ #1,076
- Swedish anledning/ˈanleːdˌnɪŋ/ reason; cause #905
- Tagalog dahilan/dahiˈlan/ reason; cause #215
- Tamil வாட்டு/ʋɑːʈːɯ/ to cause to wither or fade #1,018
- Telugu గత/ˈɡata/ cause, reason #130
- Urdu چلانا/t͡ʃə.lɑː.nɑː/ to cause to walk; to move #1,236
- Vietnamese khiến[xiən˧˦] to cause; to make #461
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.