How to say “choose” in 36 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.
- elegir/eleˈxiɾ/ Spanish
- выбрать[ˈvɨbrətʲ] Russian
- نخب/na.xa.ba/ Arabic
- 選擇/ɕy̯ɛn²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡sɤ³⁵/ Chinese
- בחר/baˈχaʁ/ Hebrew
- ავირჩევ[äviɾt͡ʃʰe̞v] Georgian
“choose” in Spanish: elegir · French: choisi · German: wählen · Italian: scelto · Portuguese: escolha · Chinese: 選擇 · Russian: выбрать · Arabic: نخب
It is commonest in Vietnamese, where chọn is the 378th most used word.
Choose in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian zgjedhur/zɟɛðuɾ/ to choose #821
- Arabic نخب/na.xa.ba/ to choose, select #952
- Armenian ընտրել/əntˈɾel/ to choose #625
- Basque erabaki/eɾabaki/ to decide, to choose #257
- Bengali বাছা/ba.t͡ʃʰa/ to choose, select, pick #670
- Bosnian izabrati/izǎbrati/ to choose, select #2,436
- Catalan triar[tɾiˈa] to pick, to decide, to choose #1,059
- Chinese 選擇/ɕy̯ɛn²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡sɤ³⁵/ to choose; to select; to pick; to make a… #1,170
- Croatian izabrati/izǎbrati/ to choose, select #2,165
- Czech vybrat[ˈvɪbrat] to select, to choose #1,367
- Danish vælge[ˈʋɛljə] to choose #1,010
- Dutch uitzoeken/ˈœy̯tˌzu.kə(n)/ to pick out, to choose, to select #1,328
- English decided/dɪˈsaɪ̯.dɪd/ To resolve; to choose, determine, or settle #729
- Esperanto elektis/eˈlektis/ to choose, elect #760
- Estonian vali/ˈvɑli/ to choose, to pick, to select #1,149
- Finnish valita/ˈʋɑlitɑˣ/ to choose, select #1,173
- French choisi/ʃwa.zi/ to choose #1,020
- Galician escoller/eskoˈɟeɾ/ to choose; to select #1,595
- Georgian ავირჩევ[äviɾt͡ʃʰe̞v] to choose #1,158
- German wählen/ˈvɛːlən/ to choose, to select #2,034
- Hebrew בחר/baˈχaʁ/ to choose, to opt, to select #1,532
- Icelandic velja[ˈvɛlja] to choose, to select #607
- Indonesian memilih/mə.mi.lih/ to choose #466
- Italian scelto/ˈʃel.to/ to choose #1,066
- Latvian izvēlēties/ˈizʋeːleːties/ to choose #1,516
- Malay pilih/pilih/ to choose #604
- Norwegian velge/ˈvɛlɡə/ to choose #975
- Polish wybrać/ˈvɘ.brat͡ɕ/ to choose #1,681
- Portuguese escolha/isˈko.ʎɐ/ to choose #769
- Romanian ales[aˈles] to choose, to select #397
- Russian выбрать[ˈvɨbrətʲ] to choose, to select, to pick out #1,917
- Slovak voliť/vɔʎic/ to choose, to select #2,107
- Slovenian izbrati/izbràːti/ to choose, to pick #926
- Spanish elegir/eleˈxiɾ/ to choose #1,828
- Swedish välja/²vɛlːja/ to choose #965
- Vietnamese chọn[t͡ɕɔn˧˨ʔ] to choose; to select; to pick #378
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.