How to say “make” in 53 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 Basque, where egin is the 5th most used word.
- Afrikaans laat to cause to, to make; forms a causative phrase #57
- Albanian bëj to do, make #73
- Arabic تقول to fabricate, to make up #140
- Armenian հայտնել to make public, known #1,161
- Basque egin to do, make, create, produce #5
- Bengali দেখানো to show; to make see #846
- Bosnian učiniti to do, make #400
- Bulgarian направя to do, make #160
- Catalan fer to make, produce #43
- Chinese 安排 to arrange; to plan; to make arrangements #258
- Croatian učiniti to do, make #192
- Czech těší to please, to make happy #1,323
- Danish laver to make, create, construct, produce #143
- Dutch maken to make, create, prepare #129
- English please Used to make a polite request #121
- Esperanto igis to cause to be, to cause to do, to make #1,217
- Estonian lõi to create, to make #866
- Finnish käyttää to use, make use of‚ employ, apply, utilize,… #408
- French assis to sit down, to seat, make sit #1,084
- Galician facer to do, make #53
- Georgian აკეთებ to make #215
- German machen to make, to produce, to create #97
- Greek έφτιαξα to make, build, create, construct #1,692
- Hebrew משתמש to use, to make use of #826
- Hindi बनाने to make, create, produce #338
- Hungarian kérem to ask, to make a request #139
- Icelandic hlakka to make the sound of an eagle #1,063
- Indonesian bercanda to joke, to tell a joke, to make a joke #498
- Italian farla to make a fool of #1,181
- Korean 해라 do, make, act #610
- Latvian nedari to not do, to not make; negative form of darīt #687
- Lithuanian darai to make #157
- Macedonian направи to do, make #118
- Malay buat to make; to create #44
- Malayalam വീഴ്ത്തുക to make something fall #1,310
- Norwegian gal to make a sound characteristic of a rooster;… #520
- Persian ساخت to make #956
- Polish zrobić to make #101
- Portuguese usar to use; to utilise; to employ; to make use of #385
- Romanian imi to dirty, besmirch, make dirty with mud or… #354
- Russian сделать to make, to do #129
- Serbian učiniti to do, make #492
- Slovak robiť to make #124
- Slovenian narediti to make; to render #224
- Spanish alegro to make happy #951
- Swedish låt to make sound #142
- Tagalog gawin to create; to make #90
- Tamil செய்ய to do, perform, create, make, accomplish #26
- Telugu చేస్తున్నాను to do, make, perform #47
- Turkish ederim to do; to make #98
- Ukrainian зробити to do, to make #157
- Urdu بنانا to make, create, produce #1,370
- Vietnamese khiến to cause; to make #461
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.