Learn Japanese FAQ

Q: Anyways, my question. How do you say “Need” in Japanese? As in “I need~” and “Do you need anything?” ありがとう！！！ – Teshi_

A: Hi Teshi,

There are a few ways to say “need” in Japanese but the easiest is a very simple いる (yeah, I’m not going to give you the reading for something so simple!  Well, I guess you could always look it up!)

So to ask someone if they need something you just say “iru?”  (with a question tone)

And the reply is “iru.”  Or “iranai” if you don’t need it.

Do you need anything? would be :  nanika iru?

You can also use it to mean “want”  in restaurants.

Sushi iru? – Do you want some sushi?

Or at work a more formal way to say “need” in Japanese is 必要 – hitsuyou.

e.g. 必要? means “Do we need it?”

Or nani ga hitsuyou? to ask “What do we need?”

Hope that helps!

Be genki,

Richard