How to say “pay” in 45 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.
- pagar/paˈɡaɾ/ Spanish
- платить[pɫɐˈtʲitʲ] Russian
- دفع/da.fa.ʕa/ Arabic
- πληρώνω/pliˈrono/ Greek
- שילם/ʃiˈlem/ Hebrew
- վճարել/vət͡ʃɑˈɾel/ Armenian
“pay” in Spanish: pagar · French: payer · German: bezahlt · Italian: pagare · Russian: платить · Arabic: دفع · Turkish: ödemek · Greek: πληρώνω
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where betaal is the 241st most used word.
Pay in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans betaal/bəˈtɑːl/ #241
- Albanian paguaj/paɡuaj/ to pay #658
- Arabic دفع/da.fa.ʕa/ to pay #613
- Armenian վճարել/vət͡ʃɑˈɾel/ to pay #626
- Bosnian platiti/plǎːtiti/ to pay #880
- Bulgarian платя[pɫɐˈtʲɤ̟] to pay #1,195
- Catalan escolta[əsˈkol.tə] to listen to, to pay attention to #233
- Chinese 注意/ʈ͡ʂu⁵¹⁻⁵³ i⁵¹/ to pay attention to; to take note of; to… #123
- Croatian platiti/plǎːtiti/ to pay #735
- Czech platí[ˈplaciː] to pay #1,003
- Danish betale/beˈtaːˀlə/ to pay #583
- Dutch betalen/bəˈtaːlə(n)/ to pay #566
- English free/fɹi/ Without needing to pay #497
- Esperanto atentu/aˈtentu/ to pay attention #263
- Estonian maksma/ˈmɑksmɑ/ to pay #816
- Finnish maksoi/ˈmaksoi/ to pay #1,875
- French payer/pɛ.je/ to pay #579
- Galician escoita/esˈkojta/ to listen, to pay attention #471
- German bezahlt/bətˈsɑːlt/ to pay, to balance a bill #930
- Greek πληρώνω/pliˈrono/ to pay #2,415
- Hebrew שילם/ʃiˈlem/ to pay #1,757
- Hungarian figyelj[ˈfiɟɛjː] to watch, to observe, to pay attention,… #220
- Icelandic heimsækja/ˈheimsaica/ to visit, to pay a visit #1,118
- Indonesian bayar/ˈbajar/ to pay #1,020
- Italian pagare/paˈɡa.re/ to pay #891
- Latvian maksā/ˈmaksaː/ pay, payment, fee, fare, toll #852
- Lithuanian dėmesio[²ˈdʲeːmʲɛsʲo̟ː] pay attention! attention! #391
- Macedonian плати[ˈpɫati] salary, pay #709
- Malay bayar/ˈbajar/ to pay #541
- Malayalam ശ്രദ്ധിക്കുക/ʃrɐd̪ːʱikːuɡɐ/ pay attention #533
- Norwegian betale/bəˈtɑːlə/ to pay #585
- Polish zapłacić/zaˈpwa.t͡ɕit͡ɕ/ to pay #1,579
- Romanian plăti/pləˈtʲi/ to pay #1,222
- Russian платить[pɫɐˈtʲitʲ] to pay #1,637
- Serbian platiti/plǎːtiti/ to pay #1,078
- Slovak platiť/placic/ to pay #897
- Slovenian plačati/plàːt͡ʃati/ to pay #523
- Spanish pagar/paˈɡaɾ/ to pay #765
- Swedish betala/bɛˈtɑːla/ to pay; to give money in exchange for goods… #558
- Tagalog bayaran/baˈjaɾan/ to pay for something #1,146
- Tamil கவனி/kɐʋɐniː/ to pay attention, notice, detect or discern,… #763
- Telugu చెల్లించారు/t͡ɕelːiɲt͡ɕaːɾu/ to pay #1,123
- Turkish ödemek/ødeˈmec/ to pay #2,269
- Ukrainian заплатити[zɐpɫɐˈtɪte] to pay #1,569
- Vietnamese tốn[ton˧˦] to pay for, to spend; to cost, to consume #1,384
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.