How to say “sing” in 36 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.
- cantar/kanˈtaɾ/ Spanish
- петь[pʲetʲ] Russian
- 唱歌/ʈ͡ʂʰɑŋ⁵¹ kɤ⁵⁵/ Chinese
- गा/ɡɑː/ Hindi
- שר/ʃaʁ/ Hebrew
- მღერიან[mʁe̞ɾiän] Georgian
“sing” in Spanish: cantar · French: chanter · German: singen · Italian: cantare · Portuguese: cantar · Chinese: 唱歌 · Russian: петь · Hindi: गा
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where sing is the 224th most used word.
Sing in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans sing/səŋ/ to sing #224
- Albanian këndoj/kənˈdɔj/ to sing #1,985
- Basque abestu/abes̺tu/ to sing #739
- Bulgarian пея[ˈpɛjɐ] to sing, to chant #2,287
- Catalan cantar[kənˈta] to sing #1,671
- Chinese 唱歌/ʈ͡ʂʰɑŋ⁵¹ kɤ⁵⁵/ to sing #574
- Croatian pjevati/pjêʋati/ to sing #1,922
- Czech zpívat[ˈspiːvat] to sing #1,711
- Danish sang[sɑŋˀ] #863
- Dutch zingen/ˈzɪ.ŋə(n)/ to sing #1,212
- Esperanto kantas/ˈkantas/ to sing #830
- Estonian laulma/ˈlɑu̯lmɑ/ to sing #2,097
- Finnish laulaa/ˈlɑu̯lɑːˣ/ to sing #1,991
- French chanter/ʃɑ̃.te/ to sing #1,326
- Galician cantar/kanˈtaɾ/ to sing #1,058
- Georgian მღერიან[mʁe̞ɾiän] to sing #1,222
- German singen/ˈzɪŋən/ to sing #1,190
- Hebrew שר/ʃaʁ/ to sing #1,290
- Hindi गा/ɡɑː/ to sing #1,662
- Icelandic syngja[ˈsiɲca] to sing #735
- Italian cantare/kanˈta.re/ to sing #2,000
- Latvian dziedāt[ˈd͡ziɛ̂dâːt] to sing #1,836
- Lithuanian dainuoti[dɐɪ¹ˈnuɔtʲɪ] to sing #1,376
- Macedonian пее[ˈpɛɛ] to sing #2,009
- Malay nyanyi/ˈɲaɲi/ to sing #1,932
- Norwegian sang/saŋ/ to sing #1,243
- Portuguese cantar/kɐ̃ˈta(ʁ)/ to sing #1,359
- Romanian cânta[kɨnˈta] to sing #1,778
- Russian петь[pʲetʲ] to sing #2,189
- Slovak spievať/spɪ̯evac/ to sing #845
- Spanish cantar/kanˈtaɾ/ to sing #1,570
- Swedish sjunga/²ɧɵŋa/ to sing #1,386
- Tagalog kumanta/kumanˈta/ to sing #1,802
- Tamil பாடு/pɑːɖɯ/ to sing, chant #1,400
- Telugu పాడింది/ˈpaːɖindi/ to sing #1,630
- Vietnamese hát[haːt̚˧˦] to sing #753
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) 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.