How to say “direct” in 31 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.
- directo/diˈɾeɡto/ Spanish
- 直接/ʈ͡ʂɻ̩³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵/ Chinese
- כיוון/kiˈven/ Hebrew
- నేరుగా/neːɾuɡaː/ Telugu
- رک[ɹokʰʲ] Persian
“direct” in Spanish: directo · French: réalisé · Chinese: 直接
It is commonest in Albanian, where drejtë is the 155th most used word.
Direct in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian drejtë/dɾɛjtə/ #155
- Arabic أيها/ʔajjuhaː/ vocative particle preceding a noun used in… #82
- Bulgarian никого[ˈnikoɡo] direct object form of ни́кой #529
- Chinese 直接/ʈ͡ʂɻ̩³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ɛ⁵⁵/ #212
- Danish direkte/dirɛktə/ direct, straight #894
- Dutch gewend/ɣəˈʋɛnt/ to direct oneself, turn #1,927
- English them/ˈðɛm/ Used as the direct object of a verb #87
- Estonian suunata/ˈsuːnɑtɑ/ to guide, to direct #2,437
- French réalisé/ʁealiˈze/ to direct #1,733
- Galician dirixir/diɾiˈʃiɾ/ to lead, direct #2,419
- Georgian პირდაპირი[pʼiɾdäpʼiɾi] above board, burly, direct, downright, plump,… #871
- German guck/ɡʊk/ to look, to direct one's gaze at something #1,353
- Hebrew כיוון/kiˈven/ To direct #862
- Hindi तुम्हारे/t̪ʊm.ɦɑː.ɾeː/ direct masculine plural #122
- Hungarian irányítani[ˈiraːɲiːtɒni] to direct, guide #2,451
- Icelandic beina[ˈpeiːna] to aim, to direct, to point #1,554
- Indonesian data/ˈdata/ a fact known from direct observation #1,134
- Italian diritti/diˈritːɪ/ straight, direct #2,132
- Lithuanian vadovauti[ʋɐdoː¹ˈʋɑˑʊtʲɪ] to lead, direct, supervise #1,517
- Macedonian се[sɛ] Short reflexive direct object pronoun #3
- Malay terus/təˈros/ straight; direct #227
- Persian رک[ɹokʰʲ] direct, frank, straightforward #2,139
- Polish cie[ˈt͡ɕɛ] used to direct usually horses to turn left #1,161
- Portuguese os/us/ third-person plural direct objective personal… #17
- Slovak riadiť/rɪ̯aɟic/ to direct, to manage #1,060
- Slovenian neposreden/nɛ́pɔsréːdən/ #2,078
- Spanish directo/diˈɾeɡto/ direct, straightforward #1,740
- Tagalog si/si/ direct marker placed before names or terms of… #19
- Telugu నేరుగా/neːɾuɡaː/ in a straight manner; straight, direct #286
- Urdu پہلے/pəɦ.leː/ direct masculine plural #73
- Vietnamese hỡi[həːj˦ˀ˥] vocative particle, used for direct address #2,047
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 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.