How to say “follow” 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.
- sigue/ˈsiɡe/ Spanish
- ακολουθήστε/a.ko.luˈθi.ste/ Greek
- പിന്തുടരുക/pin̪t̪uɖɐɾuɡɐ/ Malayalam
“follow” in Spanish: sigue · French: suivre · German: folge · Italian: seguito · Portuguese: seguir · Turkish: izlemek · Greek: ακολουθήστε
It is commonest in Malay, where ikut is the 220th most used word.
Follow in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans volg/fɔlχ/ to follow #305
- Bosnian prati/prâti/ to follow #934
- Catalan seguir[səˈɣi] to follow, to go after #560
- Chinese 遵守/t͡su̯ən⁵⁵ ʂoʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ to observe; to abide by; to follow; to comply #1,067
- Croatian prati/prâti/ to follow #1,058
- Czech sledovat[ˈslɛdovat] to follow #1,040
- Danish følge[ˈføljə] to follow #662
- Dutch volgen/ˈvɔl.ɣə(n)/ to follow #761
- English series/ˈsɪɹ.iz/ A number of things that follow on one after… #2,367
- Esperanto sekvu/ˈsekvu/ to follow #567
- Estonian jälitama/ˈjælitɑmɑ/ to track, to follow, to chase, to tail #2,470
- Finnish seuraa/ˈseu̯rɑː/ to follow, accompany #735
- French suivre/sɥivʁ/ to follow #848
- Galician segue/ˈseɡe/ to follow, come after #516
- German folge/ˈfɔlɡə/ to follow #1,633
- Greek ακολουθήστε/a.ko.luˈθi.ste/ to follow, pursue #2,240
- Hungarian következő[ˈkøvɛtkɛzøː] to follow #362
- Icelandic fylgja[ˈfɪlca] to accompany, follow #560
- Indonesian ikut/ˈikut/ to follow #272
- Italian seguito/seˈɡwi.to/ to follow, to pursue #1,325
- Macedonian следи[ˈslɛdi] to follow, tail #591
- Malay ikut/ikʊt/ to follow; to accompany #220
- Malayalam പിന്തുടരുക/pin̪t̪uɖɐɾuɡɐ/ To follow, go after, pursue #2,116
- Norwegian følge/ˈfølɡe/ to follow #650
- Portuguese seguir/seˈɡi(ʁ)/ to follow #562
- Romanian urmat/urˈmat/ to follow #1,775
- Russian следить[s⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪˈdʲitʲ] to watch, to follow, to spy #2,171
- Serbian prati/prâti/ to follow #905
- Slovak sledovať/sʎedɔvac/ to follow, to track #614
- Slovenian slediti/slɛdìːti/ to follow #878
- Spanish sigue/ˈsiɡe/ to follow #394
- Swedish följer/ˈfœljɛr/ to follow; to go after #491
- Tagalog sumunod/sumuˈnod/ to follow; to obey #512
- Tamil தொடர்/t̪oɖɐɾ/ to follow uninterruptedly, to continue in… #1,939
- Turkish izlemek/izlemec/ to follow #1,472
- Vietnamese dõi[zɔj˦ˀ˥] to follow closely; to keep track of #824
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 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.