How to say “need” in 44 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 Chinese, where 需要 is the 12th most used word.
- Albanian nevojë need, necessity #162
- Arabic أطلب to cause one to need a thing #442
- Armenian պետք need, requirement #63
- Bengali চাহিদা necessity, need #1,501
- Bulgarian нужда #188
- Catalan necessito to need #243
- Chinese 需要 to need; to require #12
- Czech potřebuju to need #359
- Danish behøver to need #244
- Dutch toe due for, ready for, in need of #214
- English tired In need of some rest or sleep #732
- Esperanto bezonas to need #106
- Finnish tarvitse to need, require #207
- French besoin #123
- Galician necesito to need #854
- Georgian უნდა have to, should, ought to, need, must #15
- German muss to have to; must; to be obliged; to need #77
- Greek χρειάζεται I need, I require #221
- Hebrew צריך Needing, in need of #43
- Hindi आवश्यकता necessity, need, inevitability #658
- Hungarian kell must, need to, have to #20
- Icelandic þarf to need, have to #380
- Indonesian butuh to need #199
- Italian bisogno #160
- Korean 필요 need; necessity #203
- Latvian vajadzības need, necessary #2,160
- Lithuanian reikia to need #47
- Macedonian потреба #446
- Malay keperluan necessity; need #1,439
- Malayalam ആവശ്യം #228
- Norwegian bo a need #666
- Persian نیاز need, necessity, want, requirement, neediness #389
- Polish muszę to have to, to need to, must #93
- Portuguese preciso to need #152
- Romanian trebuie to be necessary, to need to, to have to #36
- Slovak potrebovať to need #374
- Spanish necesito to need #203
- Swedish behöver to need #89
- Tagalog isipin things that need careful or deep thinking;… #509
- Tamil தேவை need, necessity, want, exigency #140
- Telugu ఆకలి a need or desire for food - hunger, appetite #898
- Turkish ihtiyacı #454
- Urdu ضرورت necessity, need, requirement #57
- Vietnamese cần to need #78
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.