How to say “necessary” in 40 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.
- necesario/neθeˈsaɾjo/ Spanish
- ضروري/dˤaruːrijj/ Arabic
- आवश्यक/ɑː.ʋəʃ.jək/ Hindi
- הכרחי/heχʁeˈχi/ Hebrew
- საჭირო[sät͡ʃʼiɾo̞] Georgian
- দরকার/d̪ɔɾkaɾ/ Bengali
“necessary” in Spanish: necesario · Italian: necessario · Portuguese: necessário · Arabic: ضروري · Hindi: आवश्यक · Turkish: lazım
It is commonest in Tagalog, where kailangan is the 43rd most used word.
Necessary in other languages, A to Z
- Arabic ضروري/dˤaruːrijj/ necessary, indispensable #1,592
- Armenian հարկավոր/hɑɾkɑˈvoɾ/ needed, necessary #698
- Bengali দরকার/d̪ɔɾkaɾ/ necessary, required #107
- Bosnian potreban/pôtreban/ #865
- Bulgarian трябва[ˈtrʲa̟bvɐ] it is necessary, one must #24
- Catalan necessari[nə.səˈsa.ɾi] #1,329
- Chinese 不用/pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ jʊŋ⁵¹/ not necessary; don't; no need to #60
- Croatian potreban/pôtreban/ #1,120
- Czech třeba[ˈtr̝̊ɛba] necessary, needed #334
- Danish nødvendigt[nøðˈʋɛnˀd̥id̥] necessary, essential #1,037
- Dutch moet/mut/ to be necessary, to be required #48
- English patient/ˈpɛjʃənt/ Willing to wait if necessary; not losing… #1,111
- Estonian vaja/ˈvɑjɑ/ needed, necessary #114
- French faut/fo/ to need, have to, to be necessary #126
- Galician precisa/pɾeˈθisa/ #632
- Georgian საჭირო[sät͡ʃʼiɾo̞] necessary, needed, requested, required #548
- Hebrew הכרחי/heχʁeˈχi/ #1,685
- Hindi आवश्यक/ɑː.ʋəʃ.jək/ #1,477
- Hungarian szükséges[ˈsykʃeːɡɛʃ] #1,095
- Indonesian usah[ˈusah] necessary, obligatory #918
- Italian necessario/ne.t͡ʃesˈsa.rjo/ #1,121
- Latvian vajag/ˈʋa`ja`ɡ/ to be necessary, to be needed, to be desired #120
- Lithuanian reikalingas[rʲɛɪkɐ¹ˈlʲɪŋɡɐs] needed, necessary, required #784
- Macedonian треба[ˈtrɛba] to be necessary, be advisable #36
- Malay usah/usah/ it is not necessary; there is no need #1,481
- Norwegian nødvendig/nœˈdvɛndɪ/ #1,086
- Persian لازم[lɒː.zém] #201
- Polish potrzebny/pɔˈtʂɛb.nɘ/ needed, necessary #1,633
- Portuguese necessário/ne.seˈsa.ɾju/ #1,218
- Romanian trebuie[ˈtre.bu.je] to be necessary, to need to, to have to #36
- Russian нужно[ˈnuʐnə] it is necessary, one must #69
- Serbian potreban/pôtreban/ #746
- Slovak treba/treba/ be necessary, be needed #380
- Spanish necesario/neθeˈsaɾjo/ necessary, requisite #863
- Swedish nödvändigt/ˈnœdvɛnˌdɪkt/ #1,940
- Tagalog kailangan/kaʔiˈlaŋan/ #43
- Tamil வேண்டும்/ʋeːɳɖʊm/ 'will be needed or required', 'will be… #7
- Turkish lazım/laːzɯm/ necessary, required #175
- Ukrainian потрібно[poˈtʲrʲibnɔ] used to express necessity: must, has to,… #164
- Urdu ضروری/zə.ɾuː.ɾiː/ necessary, required #139
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) and Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.