How to say “wish” in 50 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 Basque, where nahi is the 7th most used word.
- Albanian lutem to long for something to happen; to wish #80
- Arabic مطلوب desire, demand, wish #1,786
- Armenian ցանկություն wish, desire #1,212
- Basque nahi will, wish #7
- Bengali ইচ্ছা desire, wish, will #326
- Bosnian neće to wish, want, desire #136
- Bulgarian искам to want, to wish, to would like #55
- Catalan desig desire, wish #1,374
- Chinese 希望 hope; wish #25
- Croatian neće to wish, want, desire #122
- Czech aby Denotes desire or wish; if only; had better #65
- Danish ønsker #300
- Dutch hoop to hope for, to wish for #307
- English want To wish for or desire; to feel a need or… #66
- Esperanto volas to wish, to want #40
- Estonian soov wish, desire #1,434
- Finnish haluan to want, desire, wish, crave #78
- French veux to want, wish, desire #66
- Galician desexo desire, wish #1,032
- Georgian სურვილები desire, wish #1,483
- German will to want; to wish; to desire; to demand #79
- Greek μακάρι I wish, if only #725
- Hebrew הלוואי I wish, hope #580
- Hindi इच्छा desire, will, wish #590
- Hungarian hátha wish, if only #1,279
- Indonesian ingin to wish for or desire; to feel a need or… #34
- Italian desiderio wish, desire, longing #1,823
- Korean 희망 hope, wish #1,845
- Lithuanian noras #1,337
- Macedonian желба wish, desire #889
- Malay kehendak wish; desire; want; will #1,683
- Malayalam ആഗ്രഹം eagerness, wish, desire #327
- Norwegian ønsker a wish #379
- Persian کاش I wish, if only #702
- Polish zechcesz to desire, to want, to wish #2,129
- Portuguese quero to want; to wish; to desire #71
- Romanian dori to want, to wish #622
- Russian желание wish, desire #1,708
- Serbian neće to wish, want, desire #122
- Slovak želám to wish #1,040
- Slovenian želja wish, desire #746
- Spanish deseo desire, wish #924
- Swedish önskar to wish #559
- Tagalog sana used to express hope or wish in something… #122
- Tamil விருப்பம் desire, wish #1,500
- Telugu కోరిక a wish, desire, dream #666
- Turkish istiyorum to want, desire, wish #71
- Ukrainian бажання desire, wish #1,240
- Urdu خواہش #569
- Vietnamese giá if; in case; supposing; if only; I wish #361
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.