How to say “towards” in 35 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 Icelandic, where til is the 10th most used word.
- Arabic إلى to, towards #18
- Armenian նկատմամբ towards, regarding, concerning #646
- Bengali দিকে toward, towards #106
- Bosnian prema towards, at #242
- Bulgarian към towards; to #108
- Croatian prema towards, at #225
- Czech k to, toward, towards #47
- Danish til to, towards #12
- Dutch naar to, towards in time, space, consequence,… #36
- English into To or towards the inside of #141
- Estonian pool at, to, towards #382
- Finnish vastaan #226
- French vers #379
- Galician á to the, towards the #33
- German zu to, towards #13
- Greek προς towards, toward, to #260
- Hebrew אל to, towards, into #45
- Hindi प्रति #911
- Hungarian felé to, towards, in the direction of #603
- Icelandic til to, towards #10
- Indonesian terhadap toward; towards #584
- Italian incontro #885
- Macedonian кон towards, to #182
- Malay menuju to head towards; to go in the direction of #456
- Norwegian mot to, towards #136
- Polish raczej denotes hesitation but a preference towards… #562
- Romanian spre to, towards #288
- Russian ко alternative form of к: to, towards; by, for;… #323
- Serbian prema towards, at #248
- Spanish hacia toward, towards #326
- Swedish emot towards, against #381
- Tagalog palabas towards outside; outward #153
- Tamil நோக்கி #770
- Telugu ఆకర్షించింది to attract, draw towards oneself #496
- Vietnamese thiên to focus on; to gravitate towards #521
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.