How to say “keep” in 40 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 Estonian, where pean is the 92nd most used word.
- Afrikaans onthou to remember, to keep in mind #189
- Arabic جمع to gather, assemble, keep together, to collect #1,122
- Armenian պահել to keep #310
- Bosnian zadržati to keep, retain, withhold #1,141
- Bulgarian тая to keep something secret or concealed #897
- Catalan mantenir to maintain; to uphold; to keep going #783
- Chinese 保持 to keep; to maintain; to preserve; to remain;… #174
- Croatian zadržati to keep, retain, withhold #857
- Danish beholde to keep, retain, maintain #1,284
- Dutch hou to keep, preserve #136
- English protect To keep safe; to defend; to guard; to prevent… #813
- Esperanto tenu to hold, to keep #436
- Estonian pean to keep, to hold #92
- Finnish jatkaa to continue, keep on, go on, proceed, keep… #723
- French garde to keep; to retain; to store; to save #489
- Galician velo to keep vigil #562
- German behalten to keep, to retain #899
- Greek συνέχισε to continue, keep going, carry on #763
- Hebrew שומרים guard, keep: masculine plural present of… #1,319
- Hindi रखना to keep, to have #335
- Hungarian tart to hold, keep #526
- Icelandic geyma to store, to keep #1,378
- Indonesian jaga to watch over, to keep, to guard #687
- Italian continuare to continue, to keep on doing #997
- Lithuanian laikyti to hold, to keep #845
- Macedonian држи to hold, keep #290
- Malayalam സൂക്ഷിക്കുക to keep #978
- Norwegian beholde to keep, retain #1,206
- Persian مرتب repeatedly, continuously; keep #1,277
- Polish zachować to keep, to maintain, to preserve #1,865
- Portuguese manter to keep, maintain #633
- Romanian păstra to keep, preserve, hold, maintain #1,594
- Russian себе keep on #169
- Serbian zadržati to keep, retain, withhold #1,375
- Slovenian obdržati to keep, hold on, retain #767
- Spanish mantener to keep #914
- Swedish titta to look; keep one's eyes open as to be able… #178
- Tamil வைத்துக்கொள் to keep, have for one's self #1,894
- Ukrainian займатися to be occupied, to keep oneself occupied, to… #2,099
- Vietnamese giữ to keep; to hold and maintain as one's own #259
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.