How to say “see” in 53 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.
- ver/ˈbeɾ/ Spanish
- видеть[ˈvʲidʲətʲ] Russian
- 看到/kʰän⁵¹⁻⁵³ tɑʊ̯⁵¹/ Chinese
- देखो/d̪eː.kʰoː/ Hindi
- δω/ˈðo/ Greek
- ხედავ[χe̞däv] Georgian
“see” in Spanish: ver · French: vois · German: sehen · Italian: visto · Portuguese: ver · Chinese: 看到 · Russian: видеть · Hindi: देखो
It is commonest in Chinese, where 看到 is the 19th most used word.
See in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans sien/sin/ to see #55
- Albanian shoh/ʃoh/ to see #140
- Arabic ولا/walaː/ For non-idiomatic uses, see وَ and لَا #99
- Armenian տեսնել/tesˈnel/ to see; to notice; to look at, to examine #226
- Basque ikusi/ikus̺i/ to see #33
- Bengali দেখা/ˈd̪ɛkʰa/ to see #85
- Bosnian evo/ˈɛvo/ look, see, behold #182
- Bulgarian видя[ˈvidʲɐ] to see #154
- Catalan veure[ˈbɛw.ɾə] to see #73
- Chinese 看到/kʰän⁵¹⁻⁵³ tɑʊ̯⁵¹/ to catch sight of; to see #19
- Croatian vidjeti/ʋîdjeti/ to see #161
- Czech viděl[ˈvɪɟɛl] to see #240
- Danish se[ˈseˀ] to see #56
- Dutch zien/zin/ to see #96
- English eyes/aɪz/ An organ through which animals see #396
- Esperanto vidis/ˈvidis/ to see #131
- Estonian näha/ˈnæhɑ/ to see #189
- Finnish nähdä/ˈnæhdæˣ/ to see #190
- French vois/vwa/ to see #180
- Galician ver/ˈbeɾ/ to see #93
- Georgian ხედავ[χe̞däv] to see #270
- German sehen/ˈzeː.ən/ to see; to have sight #107
- Greek δω/ˈðo/ to see, watch, look at #130
- Hebrew יש/jeʃ/ there is or are; there exist; see usage notes… #14
- Hindi देखो/d̪eː.kʰoː/ to see, to look, to watch #120
- Hungarian láttam[ˈlaːtːɒm] to see #177
- Icelandic sé[ˈsjɛː] to see, to sense or perceive with one's eyes #52
- Indonesian lihat/ˈlihat/ to see, to perceive with the eyes #82
- Italian visto/ˈvis.to/ to see #146
- Korean 나는[nanɯn] topic-marked form of 나: see -은 #64
- Latvian redzēt[ɾɛdzɛ̂ːt] to see #221
- Lithuanian matau[mɐ²ˈtɒʊˑ] to see #224
- Macedonian види[ˈvidi] to see, look #121
- Malay nampak/ˈnampak/ to see; to catch sight of; to perceive… #122
- Malayalam കണ്ടു/kɐɳɖu/ to see #81
- Norwegian se/seː/ to see #60
- Persian ببینم/bebiːnæm/ to see, to look #459
- Polish zobaczyć/zɔˈba.t͡ʂɘt͡ɕ/ to see; to catch sight of, to glimpse #256
- Portuguese ver/ˈve(ʁ)/ to see; to observe #87
- Romanian văzut[vəˈzut] to see #141
- Russian видеть[ˈvʲidʲətʲ] to see #334
- Serbian evo/ˈɛvo/ look, see, behold #183
- Slovak videl/viɟel/ to see #159
- Slovenian videti/ʋìːdɛti/ to see #113
- Spanish ver/ˈbeɾ/ to see, to spot #120
- Swedish se/seː/ to see #82
- Tagalog makita/maˈkita/ to happen to see; to be able to see #145
- Tamil பார்/pɑːɾ/ to see, look at, view, notice, observe, watch #126
- Telugu చూడు/t͡ɕuːɖu/ to see #708
- Turkish görmek/ɟøɾˈmec/ to see, watch #239
- Ukrainian бачити[ˈbat͡ʃete] to see #379
- Urdu دیکھنے/d̪eːkʰ.neː/ to look, see, watch #244
- Vietnamese xem[sɛm˧˧] to see; to look at; to watch; to read #128
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.