How to say “keep” in 40 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.
- mantener/manteˈneɾ/ Spanish
- 保持/pɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʰɻ̩³⁵/ Chinese
- रखना/ɾəkʰ.nɑː/ Hindi
- պահել/pɑˈhel/ Armenian
- வைத்துக்கொள்/ʋɐɪ̯t̪ːʊkːoɭ/ Tamil
- സൂക്ഷിക്കുക/suːkʂikkjuɡɐ/ Malayalam
“keep” in Spanish: mantener · French: garde · German: behalten · Portuguese: manter · Chinese: 保持 · Hindi: रखना
It is commonest in Estonian, where pean is the 92nd most used word.
Keep in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans onthou/ɔntˈɦœu̯/ to remember, to keep in mind #189
- Arabic جمع/d͡ʒa.ma.ʕa/ to gather, assemble, keep together, to collect #1,122
- Armenian պահել/pɑˈhel/ to keep #310
- Bosnian zadržati/zadř̩ʒati/ to keep, retain, withhold #1,141
- Bulgarian тая[ˈtajɐ] to keep something secret or concealed #897
- Catalan mantenir[mən.təˈni] to maintain; to uphold; to keep going #783
- Chinese 保持/pɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʈ͡ʂʰɻ̩³⁵/ to keep; to maintain; to preserve; to remain;… #174
- Croatian zadržati/zadř̩ʒati/ to keep, retain, withhold #857
- Danish beholde[b̥eˈhʌlˀə] to keep, retain, maintain #1,284
- Dutch hou/ɦɑu̯/ to keep, preserve #136
- English protect/pɹəˈtɛkt/ To keep safe; to defend; to guard; to prevent… #813
- Esperanto tenu/ˈtenu/ to hold, to keep #436
- Estonian pean/peɑ̯n/ to keep, to hold #92
- Finnish jatkaa/ˈjɑtkɑːˣ/ to continue, keep on, go on, proceed, keep… #723
- French garde/ɡaʁd/ to keep; to retain; to store; to save #489
- Galician velo/ˈbelo/ to keep vigil #562
- German behalten[bəˈhaltn̩] to keep, to retain #899
- Greek συνέχισε/siˈneçiˌse/ to continue, keep going, carry on #763
- Hebrew שומרים/ʃoˈmʁim/ guard, keep: masculine plural present of… #1,319
- Hindi रखना/ɾəkʰ.nɑː/ to keep, to have #335
- Hungarian tart[ˈtɒrt] to hold, keep #526
- Icelandic geyma[ˈceiːma] to store, to keep #1,378
- Indonesian jaga/ˈd͡ʒaɡa/ to watch over, to keep, to guard #687
- Italian continuare/kon.ti.nuˈa.re/ to continue, to keep on doing #997
- Lithuanian laikyti[lɐɪ¹ˈkʲiːtʲɪ] to hold, to keep #845
- Macedonian држи[ˈdr̩ʒi] to hold, keep #290
- Malayalam സൂക്ഷിക്കുക/suːkʂikkjuɡɐ/ to keep #978
- Norwegian beholde/bəˈhɔlə/ to keep, retain #1,206
- Persian مرتب[mo.ɹæt̪ʰ.t̪ʰǽb̥] repeatedly, continuously; keep #1,277
- Polish zachować/zaˈxɔ.vat͡ɕ/ to keep, to maintain, to preserve #1,865
- Portuguese manter/mɐ̃ˈte(ʁ)/ to keep, maintain #633
- Romanian păstra/pəsˈtra/ to keep, preserve, hold, maintain #1,594
- Russian себе[sʲɪˈbʲe] keep on #169
- Serbian zadržati/zadř̩ʒati/ to keep, retain, withhold #1,375
- Slovenian obdržati/ɔbdərˈʒaːti/ to keep, hold on, retain #767
- Spanish mantener/manteˈneɾ/ to keep #914
- Swedish titta/²tɪta/ to look; keep one's eyes open as to be able… #178
- Tamil வைத்துக்கொள்/ʋɐɪ̯t̪ːʊkːoɭ/ to keep, have for one's self #1,894
- Ukrainian займатися[zɐi̯ˈmatesʲɐ] to be occupied, to keep oneself occupied, to… #2,099
- Vietnamese giữ[zɨ˦ˀ˥] to keep; to hold and maintain as one's own #259
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.