How to say “live” in 50 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.
- vivir/biˈbiɾ/ Spanish
- жить[ʐɨtʲ] Russian
- 生存/ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ t͡sʰu̯ən³⁵/ Chinese
- जीना/d͡ʒiː.nɑː/ Hindi
- חיים/ħajˈjiːm/ Hebrew
- ცხოვრობ[t͡sʰχo̞vɾo̞pʰ] Georgian
“live” in Spanish: vivir · French: vivre · German: lebt · Italian: vivere · Portuguese: viver · Chinese: 生存 · Russian: жить · Hindi: जीना
It is commonest in Albanian, where është is the 6th most used word.
Live in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans bly/bləi/ to live #76
- Albanian është/ˈəʃtə/ to live, stay alive #6
- Arabic عمر/ʕa.ma.ra/ to live long, to be long-lived #917
- Armenian կեցցե/ket͡sʰˈt͡sʰe/ long live! hail to! hoorah ! #207
- Basque zuzenean/s̻us̻enean/ #415
- Bengali থাকে/t̪ʰake/ to live, to reside #146
- Bosnian živi/ˈʒivɪ/ live, alive #503
- Bulgarian живея[ʒiˈvɛjɐ] to live, to be alive #590
- Catalan viure[ˈbiw.ɾə] to live, to be alive #430
- Chinese 生存/ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ t͡sʰu̯ən³⁵/ to live; to exist; to subsist; to survive #536
- Croatian živi/ˈʒivɪ/ live, alive #529
- Czech žít[ˈʒiːt] to live #510
- Danish bor/boːr/ to live, reside, dwell #414
- Dutch leven/ˈleːvə(n)/ to live #125
- English survive/sɚˈvaɪv/ Of a person, to continue to live; to remain… #1,534
- Esperanto vivas/ˈvivas/ to live #275
- Estonian elada/ˈelɑd̥ɑ/ to live #520
- Finnish elää/ˈelæːˣ/ to live, be alive #537
- French vivre/vivʁ/ to live #437
- Galician vivir/biˈbiɾ/ to live #312
- Georgian ცხოვრობ[t͡sʰχo̞vɾo̞pʰ] to live, reside #765
- German lebt/leːpt/ to live, to be alive #723
- Greek υπάρχει/iˈparçi/ to exist, be, live #89
- Hebrew חיים/ħajˈjiːm/ to live #269
- Hindi जीना/d͡ʒiː.nɑː/ to live #1,110
- Hungarian él[ˈeːl] to live #593
- Icelandic lifa[ˈlɪːva] to live #381
- Italian vivere/ˈvi.ve.re/ to live; to be alive #534
- Latvian dzīvo/ˈdziːʋuo/ to live, to be alive #431
- Lithuanian gyventi[ɡʲiː¹ˈʋʲæˑnʲtʲɪ] to live #356
- Macedonian живее[ˈʒivɛɛ] to live #388
- Malay tinggal/ˈtiŋɡal/ to live; to reside #163
- Malayalam ജീവിക്കുക/d͡ʒiːʋikkukɐ/ to live #1,600
- Norwegian bor/buːr/ to live, stay #403
- Polish życie/ˈʐɘ.t͡ɕɛ/ to live #158
- Portuguese viver/viˈve(ʁ)/ to live; to have life #428
- Romanian trăi[trəˈi] to live, to exist #1,052
- Russian жить[ʐɨtʲ] to live #372
- Serbian živi/ˈʒivɪ/ live, alive #458
- Slovak žiť/ʒic/ to live #312
- Slovenian živeti/ʒiʋèːti/ to live #329
- Spanish vivir/biˈbiɾ/ to live; to be alive #453
- Swedish lever/ˈlɛvɛr/ to live, to be alive #435
- Tagalog mabuhay/maˈbuhaj/ long live! #446
- Tamil வாழ/ʋɑːɻɐ/ to live, sustain life #188
- Telugu కలుగు/kaluɡu/ to live, exist #1,983
- Turkish yaşamak/ja.ʃaˈmak/ to live #830
- Ukrainian жити[ˈʒɪte] to live #443
- Urdu رہنا/ɾəɦ.nɑː/ to live #265
- Vietnamese tắm[tam˧˦] to wash a live body, usually your own; to… #901
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 Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), 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.