How to say “turn” in 49 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.
- סר/saʁ/ Hebrew
- ატრიალებს[ätʼɾiäle̞bs] Georgian
- повернутися[pɔʋerˈnutesʲɐ] Ukrainian
- نوبت[now.ˈbæt̪̪ʰ] Persian
“turn” in German: dreht · Italian: giro · Portuguese: viram · Turkish: dön
It is commonest in Vietnamese, where trở is the 185th most used word.
Turn in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans draai/drɑːi/ to turn #368
- Albanian kthehem/ˈkθehem/ to turn, turn over, flip #289
- Arabic دور/daw.wa.ra/ to turn in a circle, to spin, to whirl, to… #573
- Armenian դառնալ/dɑrˈnɑl/ to become; to turn into #682
- Basque bihurtu/biurtu/ to become, turn into #323
- Bengali পাক/pak/ twist, turn #1,701
- Bosnian postati/pǒstati/ to become, turn, get #884
- Bulgarian услуга/uˈsɫuɡɐ/ favour, good turn #818
- Catalan volta[ˈbɔl.tə] turn, spin #1,043
- Chinese 年前/ni̯ɛn³⁵ t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn³⁵/ before the turn of the year #595
- Croatian postati/pǒstati/ to become, turn, get #798
- Danish tur/tuːr/ #490
- Dutch keer/keːr/ to turn around, to turn around an axis #160
- English become/bɪˈkʌm/ begin to be; turn into #522
- Esperanto turnu/ˈturnu/ to turn #1,375
- Finnish löytyy/ˈløytyː/ to be found, be discovered, turn up #987
- French ensuite/ɑ̃.sɥit/ in turn, subsequently, thereafter, then #538
- Galician resultado/resulˈtado/ to result, to turn out, to end up, to prove #1,385
- Georgian ატრიალებს[ätʼɾiäle̞bs] to turn #1,538
- German dreht/ˈdɾeːt/ to turn #2,023
- Greek έγινε/ˈejiˌne/ to become, turn into #190
- Hebrew סר/saʁ/ to turn, to turn aside #1,503
- Hindi बारे/bɑː.ɾeː/ time, turn #62
- Hungarian pedig[ˈpɛdiɡ] and, while, whereas, in turn #117
- Icelandic snúa/ˈstnuːa/ to turn #529
- Indonesian putar/ˈputar/ to turn #1,803
- Italian giro/ˈd͡ʒi.ro/ to turn, stir, turn over #365
- Latvian griez/ˈɡriez/ to turn, to spin #2,040
- Lithuanian tapo[²ˈtɑːpoː] to become, get; to turn into #465
- Macedonian сврти[ˈsvr̩ti] to turn #722
- Malay menjadi/mənˈd͡ʒadi/ to become; to turn into #88
- Malayalam ഊഴം/uːɻɐm/ one's turn; chance; term #1,063
- Norwegian driver/ˈdriːvər/ to move; turn #547
- Persian نوبت[now.ˈbæt̪̪ʰ] #804
- Portuguese viram/ˈvi.ɾɐ̃w̃/ to turn #1,355
- Romanian apărut/ˌapəˈɾut/ to appear, show up, turn up, emerge #959
- Russian оказаться[ɐkɐˈzat͡sːə] to turn out, to be found, to prove #2,404
- Serbian postati/pǒstati/ to become, turn, get #923
- Slovak vypnúť/vipnuːc/ to turn off, to shut down, to disable #1,094
- Slovenian izključiti/iskljùːt͡ʃiti/ to switch off, to turn off, to disable #1,492
- Spanish través/tɾaˈbes/ bend, turn #789
- Swedish vänd/ˈvɛnd/ to turn #1,313
- Tagalog umikot/ʔuˈmikot/ to turn round and round; to rotate #2,046
- Tamil சுற்று/tʃʊrːɯ/ to rotate, circulate, turn around, revolve,… #537
- Telugu సారి/saːɾi/ time, turn, instance, occasion, repetition #644
- Turkish dön/døn/ to turn #585
- Ukrainian повернутися[pɔʋerˈnutesʲɐ] to turn #629
- Urdu بار/bɑːɾ/ time, turn, occasion, instance, occurrence #109
- Vietnamese trở[t͡ɕəː˧˩] to turn, to change #185
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), 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.