How to say “obtain” in 31 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 English, where get is the 45th most used word.
- Afrikaans kry to get, receive, obtain #81
- Arabic تلقى to receive, to obtain #1,669
- Armenian ստանալ to receive, to get; to obtain #1,720
- Bosnian dobio to receive, get, obtain, acquire #373
- Catalan obtenir to obtain, to get #2,210
- Chinese 得到 to obtain; to acquire; to get; to win; to… #50
- Croatian dobio to receive, get, obtain, acquire #306
- Czech získat to gain, obtain, to earn, to win #915
- Danish opnå to achieve, obtain, accomplish #2,369
- English get To obtain; to acquire #45
- Finnish hankkia to acquire, get, obtain, find #1,566
- French obtenir to get, to obtain #1,183
- Galician conseguir to get, obtain #720
- Hebrew השיג To obtain, procure, come by #1,810
- Hungarian szerezni to obtain, get, acquire, procure, earn #1,612
- Indonesian membeli to buy, to obtain in exchange for money or… #538
- Italian ottenere to obtain, to achieve, to gain #1,345
- Latvian dabūt to get, to obtain #444
- Lithuanian gauti to get, to obtain, to gain #363
- Macedonian важи to be valid, apply, obtain #541
- Malay memperoleh to obtain, to get #2,308
- Norwegian får to get; to have; to obtain; to receive #80
- Polish zdobyć to obtain, to acquire, to gain #1,292
- Portuguese conseguir to get, obtain #504
- Romanian obține to obtain #1,148
- Serbian dobio to receive, get, obtain, acquire #380
- Slovenian dobiti to receive, get, obtain, acquire #333
- Spanish obtener to obtain #1,539
- Tagalog makuha to obtain; to get #295
- Tamil ஈட்டு to acquire, obtain #1,564
- Vietnamese nhận to receive; to get; to obtain #174
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.