# All you need is love.



## prtzllife

Hi!
I'd like to know how to say and write, "All you need is love." in Mandarin Chinese.
But the "you" there is more of a "one" or even "we" than "you."
Kind of "All one needs is love." "All that's needed is love."
I'm looking for something that sounds natural more than a direct translation though.
Thanks!


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## kastner

generally, 需要的只是爱。


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## Dragonseed

只需要愛
litt. "only love is neede"

or simply
只要愛
litt. "only love"

May I ask what this is for?


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## prtzllife

Thanks a lot! It's for a Christmas card


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## Staarkali

If 需要的只是爱 means all you need is love, then what is the meaning of 需要的就是爱?


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## kastner

Staarkali said:


> If 需要的只是爱 means all you need is love, then what is the meaning of 需要的就是爱?



Hmm, hard to tell. They're similar.

需要的只是爱 has the meaning: Love is the only thing you/we need. (minimum condition）

需要的就是爱 has the meaning: Love is exactly the thing you/we are looking for. (best condition)


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## xiaolijie

Just wonder if the following makes sense:
只有爱是(我们)需要的

？？


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## kastner

xiaolijie said:


> Just wonder if the following makes sense:
> 只有爱是(我们)需要的
> 
> ？？



Sounds a little bit weird
Try comparing:
-我们需要的只是钱。
-只有钱是我们需要的。(this one is ok)

-我们需要的只是一分钟。
-只是一分钟是我们需要的。

It sucks.


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## samanthalee

xiaolijie said:


> Just wonder if the following makes sense:
> 只有爱是(我们)需要的
> 
> ？？


Your sentence means _Love is the only necessity_. This is an exaggeration that is alien to the Chinese culture. Instead we say  (我们)只需要爱.

However, we can say 只有钱是我们需要的, as noted by kastner in his previous post. That's because the notion that _Money is the only necessity_ is not alien to the Chinese culture. We tend to be rather money-minded.


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## xiaolijie

谢谢 kastner 和 samanthalee 的回答！
（实际上，钱也罢爱也罢，我都需要！ ）

还要问一下儿：下面的句子对不对？
"要么钱要么爱,我都需要！"


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## huyi122

"All you need is love" seems to be a song i heard in Moulin Rouge. 
My translation is "有爱便有一切"，


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## jedediah

xiaolijie said:


> 谢谢 kastner 和 samanthalee 的回答！
> （实际上，钱也罢爱也罢，我都需要！ ）
> 
> 还要问一下儿：下面的句子对不对？
> "要么钱要么爱,我都需要！"




"钱也罢爱也罢，我都(需)要！" -----Beautifully said! Point well taken!

"要么A要么B" resembles "either A or B". So you might not want to use it when you needed both.



huyi122 said:


> "all you need is love" seems to be a song i heard in Moulin Rouge.
> my translation is "有爱便有一切"，



We still need more information to know what prtzllife meant by "All you need is love." So far, this one makes the most sense to me. Both could be something you'd say to cheer someone up.


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## prtzllife

The phrase is indeed from a song. I'm not sure about "Le Moulin Rouge" since it's been quite a while since I saw it, but it's a song by the Beetles, "All you need is love." (A good tune if I don't say so myself, but be warned, it's catchy 
Anyway, I'm making a Christmas card and my usual habit is to translate the main message of the card into the six official languages of the UN, but since I don't speak Chinese (or Arabic, for that matter) I need help with it. I appreciate all the input!

So, now I ask, what's the difference between Kastner's "需要的只是爱。" and Huyi122's "有爱便有一切。"
I liked Kastner's minimum condition analogy.
If I could reword the sentence, maybe I'd go with something like, "The only thing that one/we need [to get along/to exist] is love."
Also, is it possible to give me the Pinyin for these two sentences? When I look up the characters, I see sometimes there's multiple pronunciations for certain ones (at least as far as the tones go).
Thank you all for your help!


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## huyi122

jedediah said:


> We still need more information to know what prtzllife meant by "All you need is love." So far, this one makes the most sense to me. Both could be something you'd say to cheer someone up.



Some time we don't need to translate literally if we know the meaning of the sentence in context.  "有爱便有一切" is possible one based on the lyric of the song. Just like you said , we still need to know what prtzllife wants to express


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## huyi122

prtzllife said:


> The phrase is indeed from a song. I'm not sure about "Le Moulin Rouge" since it's been quite a while since I saw it, but it's a song by the Beetles, "All you need is love." (A good tune if I don't say so myself, but be warned, it's catchy .......



WoW ,six official languages...owesome! 
As to the difference between  "需要的只是爱。" and "有爱便有一切。",i think,kastner's post may explain the former, and "有爱便有一切。" could be :"(we) get love ,(we)get everything".


kastner said:


> Hmm, hard to tell. They're similar.
> 
> 需要的只是爱 has the meaning: Love is the only thing you/we need. (minimum condition）
> 
> 需要的就是爱 has the meaning: Love is exactly the thing you/we are looking for. (best condition)



_samanthalee_ ,i'm sorry for my previous mistakes in spelling.


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## prtzllife

Thanks Huyi!
Could I bother you for some Pinyin?


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## kastner

需要的只是爱 xu1 yao4 de zhi3 shi4 ai4
有爱便有一切 you3 ai4 bian4 you3 yi2 qie4 (yi1 turns to 2nd tone before a 4th tone word)


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## jedediah

prtzllife said:


> "The only thing that one/we need [to get along/to  exist] is love."


  Though literally it is "一个人只要有爱就能活下去" which is more or less similar to  "需要的只是爱." I still prefer Huyi122's "有爱便有一切," because you'll actually write it to others on Christmas cards. It has the flavor of lyrics/poem as well.  "有爱便有一切," has the meaning of "once you have love, other things follow." 




A follow up check on Wikipedia gives me the following. 


"The nice thing about it is that it cannot be misinterpreted. It is a clear message saying that *love is everything*." ----Brian Epstein (the manager of The Beatles) _The Beatles Anthology_. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 257. 


Then you couldn't be wrong with "有爱便有一切." 




 "有爱便有一切." :  you3 ai4 bian4 you3 yi2 qie4 



  "需要的只是爱."  xu1 yao4 de1 zhi3 shi4 ai4 


Pinyin is not my forte, not to mention how much I hated it when I was in school because of all those ridiculous exam questions.


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## jedediah

kastner said:


> 需要的只是爱 xu1 yao4 de zhi3 shi4 ai4
> 有爱便有一切 you3 ai4 bian4 you3 yi2 qie4 (yi1 turns to 2nd tone before a 4th tone word)



I guess I did okay in the pinyin test.


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## huyi122

prtzllife said:


> Thanks Huyi!
> Could I bother you for some Pinyin?


Sure ,go ahead.


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## prtzllife

Thanks a lot guys!
I didn't know that about 1st tone to 4th tone before 4th tone. That's pretty cool (my background's in linguistics, and I particularly like phonology, but clearly my education was not that thorough


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## huyi122

prtzllife said:


> Thanks a lot guys!
> I didn't know that about 1st tone to 4th tone before 4th tone. That's pretty cool (my background's in linguistics, and I particularly like phonology, but clearly my education was not that thorough


Linguistics sounds very interesting! Much better than my dull major-- Computer Science.I hate dealing with machine all the time.It is so nice to know you guys here learning Chinese


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## xiaolijie

Thanks Jedediah for answering my question.

Prtzllife, as the text for a Christmas card, 有爱便有一切 seems to fit best.

Cheers,


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## kastner

prtzllife said:


> Thanks a lot guys!
> I didn't know that about 1st tone to 4th tone before 4th tone. That's pretty cool (my background's in linguistics, and I particularly like phonology, but clearly my education was not that thorough



Noooo! It's not a general rule.
We only have 一/不 tone change.


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