How to say “read” 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.
- lee/ˈlee/ Spanish
- читать[t͡ɕɪˈtatʲ] Russian
- पढ़/pəɽʱ/ Hindi
- διάβασα/ðiˈavaˌsa/ Greek
- קורא/koʁe/ Hebrew
- წავიკითხე[t͡sʼävikʼitʰχe̞] Georgian
“read” in Spanish: lee · French: lit · German: lesen · Italian: letto · Portuguese: ler · Russian: читать · Hindi: पढ़ · Turkish: okudum
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where lees is the 202nd most used word.
Read in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans lees/lɪəs/ to read #202
- Albanian lexuar/lɛd͡zuaɾ/ to read #751
- Arabic أقرأ/ʔaq.ra.ʔa/ to cause one to read or study, to cause one… #1,384
- Armenian կարդալ/kɑɾˈtʰɑl/ to read #807
- Basque irakurri/iɾakuri/ to read #299
- Bengali পড়া/pɔɽa/ to read; to study #1,463
- Bosnian čitati/t͡ʃǐtati/ to read #2,063
- Bulgarian чета[t͡ʃɛˈtɤ] to read #1,643
- Catalan llegir[ʎəˈʒi] to read #920
- Croatian čitati/t͡ʃǐtati/ to read #1,471
- Czech četl[ˈt͡ʃɛtl̩] to read #1,437
- Danish læse/ˈlɛːsə/ to read #684
- Dutch lezen[ˈleɪ̯zə(n)] to read #811
- Esperanto legi/ˈleɡi/ to read #632
- Estonian lugema/ˈluɡ̊emɑ/ to read #1,477
- Finnish lukea/ˈlukeɑˣ/ to read #1,170
- French lit/li/ to read #542
- Galician ler/ˈleɾ/ to read #609
- Georgian წავიკითხე[t͡sʼävikʼitʰχe̞] to read #1,458
- German lesen/ˈleːzn̩/ to read #857
- Greek διάβασα/ðiˈavaˌsa/ to read #1,488
- Hebrew קורא/koʁe/ to read #533
- Hindi पढ़/pəɽʱ/ to read #1,168
- Hungarian olvastam[ˈolvɒʃtɒm] to read #1,556
- Icelandic lesa[ˈlɛːsa] to read #435
- Indonesian baca/ˈbat͡ʃa/ to read #1,135
- Italian letto/ˈlɛt.to/ to read #324
- Latvian lasīt[lasîːt] to read #1,419
- Lithuanian skaityti[skɐɪ¹ˈtʲiːtʲɪ] to read #906
- Macedonian чита[ˈt͡ʃita] to read #1,843
- Malay membaca/məmˈbat͡ʃa/ to read #687
- Norwegian lese/ˈleːsə/ to read #682
- Polish czytać/ˈt͡ʂɘ.tat͡ɕ/ to read #2,133
- Portuguese ler/ˈle(ʁ)/ to read #806
- Romanian citit/t͡ʃiˈtit/ to read #803
- Russian читать[t͡ɕɪˈtatʲ] to read #1,567
- Slovak čítať/t͡ʃiːtac/ to read #750
- Slovenian brati/bràːti/ to read #686
- Spanish lee/ˈlee/ to read #1,128
- Swedish läsa/ˈlɛːˌsa/ to read #743
- Tagalog magbasa/maɡbaˈsa/ to read; to do reading #1,940
- Turkish okudum/okuˈdum/ to read #1,485
- Ukrainian читати[t͡ʃeˈtate] to read #1,448
- Urdu پڑھنا/pəɽʱ.nɑː/ to read #2,154
- Vietnamese đọc[ʔɗawk͡p̚˧˨ʔ] to read, to pronounce #559
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.