How to say “permit” in 30 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 German, where lassen is the 161st most used word.
- Arabic سمح to allow, to permit someone something / أَن… #1,875
- Armenian թույլատրել to permit, authorize, allow #1,084
- Bosnian dozvoliti to allow, permit, let #1,044
- Bulgarian позволя to let, to allow, to permit #860
- Catalan permetre to allow; to permit #1,046
- Croatian dopustiti to allow, permit, let #751
- Czech dovolit to allow, to permit #1,063
- Danish tilladelse permission, permit, consent #1,375
- Esperanto permesu to let, permit, allow #415
- Estonian lase to let, to allow, to permit #169
- Finnish suokaa to give, allow, permit, grant, let, afford #1,772
- French permis to permit, to allow #1,401
- Galician permitir to permit, to allow #1,683
- German lassen to allow; to permit; to let #161
- Icelandic leyfa to allow, to permit, to give permission for #612
- Indonesian izin license; permit; permission #1,282
- Italian permesso to allow, to let, to permit, to authorize, to… #781
- Lithuanian leisti let, allow, permit, authorize #441
- Macedonian дозволува to allow, permit #2,275
- Malay benarkan to allow; to permit; to authorise #698
- Persian گذاشتم to let, to permit, to allow #599
- Portuguese licença license; permit #558
- Romanian permite to permit, allow #918
- Russian позволить to allow, to permit #971
- Serbian dozvoliti to allow, permit, let #972
- Spanish permite to allow, permit #1,594
- Swedish tillåter to allow, to permit #2,261
- Tagalog permiso permission; permit #1,682
- Tamil அனுமதிக்க to allow, permit #298
- Ukrainian дозволити to allow, to permit, to let #1,390
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.