How to say “drive” 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.
- conducir/konduˈθiɾ/ Spanish
- 開車/kʰaɪ̯⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰɤ⁵⁵/ Chinese
- οδηγεί/ˌoðiˈji/ Greek
- გაატარებს[ɡ̊äätʼäɾe̞bs] Georgian
- চালানো/t͡ʃa.la.no/ Bengali
- ஓட்டு/oːʈːɯ/ Tamil
“drive” in Spanish: conducir · French: conduire · German: treiben · Chinese: 開車 · Greek: οδηγεί
It is commonest in Danish, where kører is the 346th most used word.
Drive in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian çmend/t͡ʃmɛnd/ to drive someone crazy #2,044
- Arabic طرد/tˤarada/ to push away, drive away, repel #1,641
- Bengali চালানো/t͡ʃa.la.no/ to drive; to pilot #1,044
- Bosnian voziti/ʋǒziti/ to drive #1,380
- Bulgarian карам[ˈkarɐm] to drive, to conduct #1,091
- Chinese 開車/kʰaɪ̯⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰɤ⁵⁵/ to drive #1,923
- Croatian voziti/ʋǒziti/ to drive #1,068
- Danish kører[ˈkʰøːɐ] to drive #346
- Dutch station/staːˈʃɔn/ disk drive #1,860
- Estonian ajab/ˈɑjɑb̥/ to drive #754
- Finnish ajaa/ˈɑjɑːˣ/ to drive, ride, travel, transport #838
- French conduire/kɔ̃.dɥiʁ/ to drive #1,187
- Galician conducir/konduˈθiɾ/ to drive #1,614
- Georgian გაატარებს[ɡ̊äätʼäɾe̞bs] to drive #1,515
- German treiben/ˈtʁaɪ̯bm̩/ to drive; to propel; to force #2,418
- Greek οδηγεί/ˌoðiˈji/ to drive #1,506
- Icelandic keyra[ˈcʰeiːra] #700
- Indonesian mengendarai/məŋənˈdaraɪ/ to drive #2,198
- Lithuanian važiuoti[ʋɐ¹ˈʒʲu̟ɔtʲɪ] to go by vehicle, drive, ride #485
- Macedonian вози[ˈvɔzi] to drive #627
- Malay halau/halau̯/ to drive away #1,703
- Malayalam ഡ്രൈവ്/ɖrɐi̯ʋɨ/ #862
- Norwegian kjøre/ˈçøːrə/ To drive #511
- Polish spędzić/ˈspɛɲ.d͡ʑit͡ɕ/ to drive #1,979
- Russian ехать[ˈjexətʲ] to go, to ride, to drive #1,072
- Serbian voziti/ʋǒziti/ to drive #1,747
- Slovak šoférovať/ʃɔfeːrɔvac/ to drive #1,174
- Slovenian voziti/ʋɔzìːti/ to drive vehicle #712
- Spanish conducir/konduˈθiɾ/ to drive; to conduct #1,663
- Swedish kör/kœːr/ to drive a vehicle #254
- Tagalog ya/ja/ expression used to drive cattle: yah #278
- Tamil ஓட்டு/oːʈːɯ/ to drive #993
- Ukrainian вбити[ˈwbɪte] to beat in, to drive in, to hammer in, to… #478
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.