How to say “want” 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.
- أراد/ʔa.raː.da/ Arabic
- 싶다[ɕʰip̚t͈a̠] Korean
- चाहिए/t͡ʃɑː.ɦɪ.eː/ Hindi
- θέλω/ˈθelo/ Greek
- רוצה/ʁoˈt͡se/ Hebrew
- მინდა[mindä] Georgian
“want” in French: veux · German: will · Italian: voglio · Portuguese: quero · Korean: 싶다 · Arabic: أراد · Hindi: चाहिए · Turkish: istiyorum
It is commonest in Hebrew, where רוצה is the 25th most used word.
Want in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans wil/vəl/ to want #39
- Albanian dua[ˈdua] to want #52
- Arabic أراد/ʔa.raː.da/ to want, will #569
- Armenian կարիք/kɑˈɾikʰ/ necessity, need, want #404
- Bengali চাই/t͡ʃai̯/ to want #66
- Bosnian neće/nêːt͡ɕeː/ to wish, want, desire #136
- Bulgarian искам[ˈiskɐm] to want, to wish, to would like #55
- Catalan vull[ˈbuʎ] to want #78
- Chinese 不要/pu⁵¹⁻³⁵ jɑʊ̯⁵¹/ to not want #11
- Croatian neće/nêːt͡ɕeː/ to wish, want, desire #122
- Czech chci[ˈxt͡sɪ] to want #96
- Danish vil/vil/ to want to, be willing to #27
- Dutch wil/ʋɪl/ to want, desire #49
- English hope/ˈhoʊp/ To want to happen, with a sense of… #339
- Esperanto volas/ˈvolas/ to wish, to want #40
- Estonian tahad/ˈtɑhɑd̥/ to want #93
- Finnish haluan/ˈhaluan/ to want, desire, wish, crave #78
- French veux/vø/ to want, wish, desire #66
- Galician quero/ˈkɛɾo/ to desire; to want #72
- Georgian მინდა[mindä] to want #56
- German will/vɪl/ to want; to wish; to desire; to demand #79
- Greek θέλω/ˈθelo/ to want, desire, will #60
- Hebrew רוצה/ʁoˈt͡se/ To want #25
- Hindi चाहिए/t͡ʃɑː.ɦɪ.eː/ to want, desire #70
- Hungarian akarsz[ˈɒkɒrs] to want #136
- Icelandic vildi/ˈvɪltɪ/ to want #128
- Indonesian inginkan/iˈŋinkan/ to want #326
- Italian voglio/ˈvɔʎ.ʎo/ to want #79
- Korean 싶다[ɕʰip̚t͈a̠] to be desirous of, to want #778
- Latvian gribu/ˈɡribu/ to want #101
- Lithuanian nori[¹ˈnoːrʲɪ] to want #61
- Macedonian сакам[ˈsakam] to want, desire #48
- Malay mahu/ˈma(h)u/ to want, to desire #62
- Malayalam വേണ്ട/ʋeːɳɖɐ/ don't want #32
- Norwegian vil/ʋɪl/ to want to, be willing to #27
- Persian نیاز[ni.jɒ́ːz] need, necessity, want, requirement, neediness #389
- Polish chcę/xt͡sɛ/ to want #71
- Portuguese quero/ˈkɛ.ɾu/ to want; to wish; to desire #71
- Romanian vreau/ˈvre̯aw/ to want #66
- Serbian neće/nêːt͡ɕeː/ to wish, want, desire #122
- Slovak chcem/xt͡sem/ to want #74
- Slovenian hotel/xɔtɛ̀ːl/ to want #115
- Spanish quiero/ˈkjeɾo/ to desire, to want, to want to #67
- Swedish vill/vɪl/ to want, desire #34
- Tagalog gusto/ɡusˈto/ want; like; desire #30
- Tamil தேவை/t̪eːʋɐɪ̯/ need, necessity, want, exigency #140
- Telugu అక్రమము/ˈakraˌmamu/ want of order #1,277
- Turkish istiyorum/isˈtijoɾum/ to want, desire, wish #71
- Vietnamese muốn[muən˧˦] to want #44
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), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 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.