How to say “cause” in 48 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 Afrikaans, where laat is the 57th most used word.
- Afrikaans laat to cause to, to make; forms a causative phrase #57
- Albanian shkak reason, cause #449
- Arabic أذهب to cause to go away, to make disappear, to… #165
- Armenian պատճառ reason, cause #332
- Basque arrazoi cause, reason #226
- Bengali করানো to cause to make or do #1,314
- Bosnian razlog reason, cause #529
- Bulgarian причина cause, reason #447
- Catalan causa #976
- Chinese 原因 cause; reason #131
- Croatian razlog reason, cause #514
- Danish formål purpose, cause #1,999
- Dutch laat to leave, to cause to remain in the same… #84
- English because By or for the cause that; on this account… #119
- Esperanto igis to cause to be, to cause to do, to make #1,217
- Estonian põhjus cause, reason #682
- Finnish tarkoitus end, purpose, cause #1,052
- French marier to marry, to marry off; to perform or cause… #1,209
- Galician causa #821
- Greek αιτία cause, reason #1,756
- Hebrew סיבה #439
- Hindi कारण #175
- Hungarian ok #527
- Icelandic valda to cause #994
- Indonesian serangan an attempt to cause damage, injury to, or… #654
- Italian causa #616
- Korean 와서 informal non-polite cause/reason form of 오다 #238
- Latvian iemesls #692
- Lithuanian priežastis cause, reason #685
- Macedonian причина cause, reason #366
- Malay serangan an attempt to cause damage, injury to, or… #488
- Malayalam നിർത്തുക to cause to stop moving #1,918
- Norwegian satt to seat someone; to cause someone to assume a… #475
- Persian باعث cause, motive #175
- Polish powodu cause, reason #370
- Portuguese causa to cause #348
- Romanian cauza #364
- Russian причина #950
- Serbian razlog reason, cause #538
- Slovak dôvod reason, cause, motive #290
- Slovenian obesiti to hang, to cause to be suspended #1,721
- Spanish causa #1,076
- Swedish anledning reason; cause #905
- Tagalog dahilan reason; cause #215
- Tamil வாட்டு to cause to wither or fade #1,018
- Telugu గత cause, reason #130
- Urdu چلانا to cause to walk; to move #1,236
- Vietnamese khiến to cause; to make #461
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.