How to say “forward” in 45 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 Icelandic, where áfram is the 85th most used word.
- Arabic أقبل to turn forward #1,294
- Armenian առաջ #128
- Basque aurrera #126
- Bengali অগ্রসর progressive, forward #1,732
- Bosnian naprijed forward, forwards #847
- Bulgarian напред forward, onward, ahead #619
- Catalan endavant #394
- Chinese 期待 to look forward to; to await #488
- Croatian naprijed forward, forwards #617
- Czech dopředu #1,788
- Danish frem forward, toward #344
- Dutch uitzien to look forward to #2,419
- English run To move forward quickly upon two feet by… #316
- Esperanto antaŭen forward, forth #583
- Estonian edasi forward, ahead #201
- Finnish välitä to transmit, convey, forward, pass on, relay #582
- French avance to advance, to go forward #885
- Galician adiante ahead, forward #397
- Georgian წინ forward, ahead #191
- German vorwärts forwards, forward; onwards, onward #1,658
- Greek ανυπομονώ to be impatient, look forward with impatience #1,884
- Hebrew הלאה along, forward, onward, next #735
- Hindi आगे #277
- Hungarian előre forward, ahead #654
- Icelandic áfram forward, forth, on #85
- Indonesian lari to move forward quickly upon two feet by… #378
- Italian avanti forward, ahead, onward #315
- Korean 전진 advance; forward movement #2,337
- Lithuanian pirmyn forward, ahead #204
- Macedonian напред forward, ahead, in front #402
- Malayalam മുന്നോട്ട് #248
- Norwegian frem #643
- Persian جلو forward, ahead #398
- Polish naprzód forward, forwards, forth, ahead #1,857
- Portuguese avançar to go forward, advance #1,984
- Russian вперёд #1,116
- Serbian napred forward, forwards #627
- Spanish adelante #370
- Swedish fram forth, forward, out #262
- Tagalog asahan to hope for; to look forward #1,250
- Tamil தள்ளு to push, force, forward, shove away #673
- Telugu ఎదురుచూచు to look forward, to anticipate #1,665
- Ukrainian вперед forward, forwards, forth, onwards, ahead, on #321
- Urdu آگے #224
- Vietnamese tiến to advance; to go forward #403
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.