How to say “start” in 51 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 Ukrainian, where да is the 25th most used word.
- Albanian fillim start, beginning #468
- Arabic بداية beginning, start #614
- Armenian սկիզբ beginning, start; commencement #669
- Basque hasi to begin, start #120
- Bengali শুরু start, beginning #110
- Bosnian počinje to begin, start, commence #860
- Bulgarian започна to begin, to start, to commence #455
- Catalan començar to begin, to start something #322
- Chinese 開始 to start; to begin; to commence #345
- Croatian početi to begin, start, commence #718
- Czech začít to begin, to start #645
- Danish begynder to start, begin, commence, open #488
- Dutch start to start, begin #1,532
- English beginning To start, to initiate or take the first step… #1,043
- Esperanto komencis to start, begin #562
- Estonian hakkama to start, begin #292
- Finnish alkaa to begin, start, initiate, set in, be… #352
- French début start, beginning #700
- Galician comezar to start, begin, commence #630
- Georgian დავიწყოთ to begin, to start, to initiate #565
- German anfang start, beginning, origin #976
- Greek άρχισε to start, begin #921
- Hebrew התחיל to start, to begin #693
- Hungarian kezd to begin, start #947
- Icelandic byrjun beginning, outset, start #1,117
- Indonesian awal beginning, start #491
- Italian cominciare to begin, to start, to commence, to set about #1,425
- Korean 시작 start, beginning #588
- Latvian sākt to begin, to start #690
- Lithuanian pradėti to begin, to start #437
- Macedonian прво first, firstly, to start with #261
- Malay mula the beginning, the start #297
- Malayalam ഓൺ on, start #1,058
- Norwegian begynner to begin, start #367
- Persian آغاز beginning, start #1,087
- Polish zacząć to start, to begin #837
- Portuguese começar to start; to begin; to commence #377
- Romanian începutul beginning, start #1,564
- Russian начать to begin, to start, to commence #757
- Serbian počinje to begin, start, commence #789
- Slovak začať to start, to begin #409
- Slovenian začeti to begin, to start #566
- Spanish empezar to start, begin, to get started #614
- Swedish börjar to begin; to start #277
- Tagalog simula start; beginning #480
- Tamil துவங்கு to commence, start, begin #1,048
- Telugu ప్రారంభించారు to begin, start #297
- Turkish başladı to begin, to start #435
- Ukrainian да Used as an emphasiser, usually at the start… #25
- Urdu آغاز #575
- Vietnamese khởi to start; to begin; to initiate #994
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.