How to say “follow” in 36 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 Malay, where ikut is the 220th most used word.
- Afrikaans volg to follow #305
- Bosnian prati to follow #934
- Catalan seguir to follow, to go after #560
- Chinese 遵守 to observe; to abide by; to follow; to comply #1,067
- Croatian prati to follow #1,058
- Czech sledovat to follow #1,040
- Danish følge to follow #662
- Dutch volgen to follow #761
- English series A number of things that follow on one after… #2,367
- Esperanto sekvu to follow #567
- Estonian jälitama to track, to follow, to chase, to tail #2,470
- Finnish seuraa to follow, accompany #735
- French suivre to follow #848
- Galician segue to follow, come after #516
- German folge to follow #1,633
- Greek ακολουθήστε to follow, pursue #2,240
- Hungarian következő to follow #362
- Icelandic fylgja to accompany, follow #560
- Indonesian ikut to follow #272
- Italian seguito to follow, to pursue #1,325
- Macedonian следи to follow, tail #591
- Malay ikut to follow; to accompany #220
- Malayalam പിന്തുടരുക To follow, go after, pursue #2,116
- Norwegian følge to follow #650
- Portuguese seguir to follow #562
- Romanian urmat to follow #1,775
- Russian следить to watch, to follow, to spy #2,171
- Serbian prati to follow #905
- Slovak sledovať to follow, to track #614
- Slovenian slediti to follow #878
- Spanish sigue to follow #394
- Swedish följer to follow; to go after #491
- Tagalog sumunod to follow; to obey #512
- Tamil தொடர் to follow uninterruptedly, to continue in… #1,939
- Turkish izlemek to follow #1,472
- Vietnamese dõi to follow closely; to keep track of #824
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.