# Be hungry / have hunger



## Dymn

Hi!

I wonder which structure do you use in your mother language to say "be hungry". In Catalan, Spanish and French it is literally "have hunger": "tenir gana", "tener hambre" and "avoir faim".

In addition to that, do you use the same structure for "be hungry" and "be thirsty"?


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## Radioh

Hi, Diamant7. We use both structures in my mother tongue. 
'be hungry' is used in a statement. For example, 'tôi đói bụng'(I am hungry).
"have hungry" is used to ask and answer. For example, 'bạn có đói bụng không ?'(Do you have hungry?) 'yes, I have'(vâng, tôi có).
R.


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## apmoy70

In Greek we use the v. *«πεινώ»* [pi'no], or *«πεινάω»* [pi'na.o] (uncontracted and more colloquial) --> _to hunger_ < Classical v. *«πεινάω/πεινῶ» peináō* (uncontracted)/*peinô* (contracted) --> _to hunger, be hungry_ (with obcure etymology); however, there's a set phrase we use when we're very hungry: 
*«Έχω μια πείνα!»* ['exo mɲa 'pina!] --> _I have a (huge) hunger!_
*«Πείνα»* ['pina] (fem.) < Classical fem. noun *«πεῖνᾰ» peînă* --> _hunger, famine_ (with obscure etymology, the breve final -ă suggests possible Pre-Greek ending).


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## rusita preciosa

Check out this thread, it has lots of info on "be hungry" too.


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## ger4

German: Are you hungry? 
either: Bist du hungrig? [same structure as in English]
or: Hast du Hunger? [lit: 'Have you hunger?]

German: Are you thirsty?
either: Bist du durstig? [same structure as in English]
or: Hast du Durst? [lit: 'Have you thirst?']

Both versions are quite common and mean the same. I do think though that the second version sounds more matter-of-fact.


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## origumi

In Hebrew (and apparently other Semitic languages) the question is irrelevant. We do not need either "to be" or "to have" in such case. Nevertheless there are structures that remind the "be" and "have", אני רעב I (am) hungry, or יש לי תיאבון there-is-to-me (= I have) appetite.


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## Gavril

Welsh: 
_Mae chwant bwyd arnaf i _"I am hungry", literally "There is hunger of food upon me"
_Mae syched arnaf i_ "I am thirsty", lit. "There is thirst upon me"


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## Peterdg

In Dutch also both are possible:

Heb je honger? (lit: do you have hunger?)
Ben je hongerig? (lit: are you hungry?)


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian   *Éhes vagyok. (I am hungry) - only that form is possible


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## bibax

Czech:

*Mám hlad. Mám žízeň.* = I have hunger. I have thirst. _- most common_

Jsem hladový _(less common)_. Jsem žíznivý _(rarely used in common speech)_. = I am hungry. I am thirsty.

There are also verbs *hladověti* and *žízniti* (to have hunger/thirst for longer time period):

*Hladovím. Žízním.* = I hunger. I thirst. 

Blaze vám, kteří teď *hladovíte*, neboť budete nasyceni.  = Blessed are you who *hunger* now, for you shall be satisfied. 
Po Bohu, po živém Bohu, *žízní* duše má. = My soul *thirsts* for God, for the living God.


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## ger4

^Similar to German "hungern" und "dürsten" (verbs derived from "Hunger" and "Durst" respectively); as in Czech, we don't use them unless we want to specify someone has been hungry or thirsty for a longer time period, and they are also used in the Bible ("Gesegnet euch, die ihr hungert und dürstet..." [not sure about the precise wording though...]). Also, the German word for "to starve" is based on the verb "hungern": It is "verhungern". Likewise, "dürsten" for too long can result in "verdursten" ("to die of thirst").


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## vianie

Added Slovak comparing examples


bibax said:


> Czech:
> *Mám hlad. Mám žízeň.* = I have hunger. I have thirst. _- most common_
> *Mám hlad. Mám smäd.* = I have hunger. I have thirst. - _less common_





> *Jsem hladový* _(less common)_. *Jsem žíznivý* _(rarely used in common speech)_. = I am hungry. I am thirsty.
> *Som hladný* _(most common)_. *Som smädný* _(commonly used in common speech). _= I am hungry. I am thirsty.





> *Hladovím. Žízním.* = I hunger. I thirst.
> *Hladoviem *_(very rare)_*. Smädí ma *_(quite common)_*. *= I hunger. It thirsts me.


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## Glockenblume

Do you know the book "To have or to be" (Erich Fromm)?
It's about two different psychological kinds of caracter and behaviour. Fromm struggles for the mood "to be" and regrets that in our consumerist society, "to have" has so much importance.
In this book, he mentions the example "to be hungry" versus "to have hunger".

Erich Fromm grew up in Germany but exiled to the US were he was naturalized. So his ideas about language are influenced by German and English.


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## sound shift

I don't know that book, no, but I don't think that the difference between "Tinc [I *have*] fam" and "I *am *hungry" is in any way connected with consumerism.


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## AutumnOwl

_*Swedish:*
Jag är hungrig_ - I am hungry

To say _"Jag har hunger"_ (I have hunger) is not correct in Swedish, but it's possible to say _"Jag känner hunger/jag känner mig hungrig/jag har en hungerkänsla"_ (I feel hunger/I feel (me) hungry/I have a feeling of hunger), and to ask somebody "Känner du dig hungrig?" (Do you feel hungry?) instead of_ "Är du hungrig?"_ (Are you hungry?)


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## Messquito

In Chinese it's most common to say "I hungry" 我餓了
We would add 是, the equivalent of "be" in the sentence as an emphasis "I _am_ hungry." 我是餓了 (the emphasis is on "am")
And most of the time this expression is accompanied by a clause ", but.../;however,.../..."


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## 810senior

In Japanese, we have such phrases:

お腹が空く stomach becomes empty.
腹が減る (the contents of) stomach has become fewer.

腹が減っては戦もできぬ anyone can't fight on the empty stomach


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## kaverison

*Tamil*

Typically*,*
_(enakku) pasikkirathu_, spoken - _pasikkuthu_
(எனக்கு) பசிக்கிறது, பேச்சில் - பசிக்குது
You can just say,

pasikkirathu - hunger happening (to me). enakku implied.
பசிக்கிறது

To say in an active voice,

(naan) pasiyaaka irukkireen  - (I) am (being) hungry 
(நான்) பசியாக இருக்கிறேன்

Notes: _naan _- I, _en _- my, _enathu _- mine, _enakku _- for me, to me

To say, I won't eat that (something we don't like), even if I am hungry, we use a proverb

puli pasitthalum pullai thinnaathu
புலி பசித்தாலும் புல்லைத் தின்னாது

tiger won't eat grass, even when he is (extremely) hungry!\

for thirst we have another word - thaakam

_thaakatthai pokka thanniir kudi_
drink water to quench the thirst

pokka - remove
thanniir - water
thakatthai - the thirst, I think, it's more like "that which is thirst". mmm. another incidence the languages don't see eye to eye.


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## 810senior

@kaverison
Would you tell me what to say or be similar to "I'm starving(extremely hungry)" and "my stomach is rumbling(because of hunger)" in Tamil?


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## Armas

Finnish

minulla on nälkä = I have hunger, or literally at me is hunger
minun on nälkä, I don't know how to translate this literally, minun is a dative adverbial
olen nälkäinen = I am hungry
colloquially minua nälättää = [it] hungers me, here nälättää is impersonal verb "makes hungry"


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## TitTornade

Hello,
French generally uses the "to have hunger" = _avoir faim_ or "to have thirst" = _avoir soif_ forms.

But we also use the "to be hungry" = _être affamé _or "to be thirsty" = _être assoiffé_ forms. The meaning is not exactly the same. The "to be hungry" form is *stronger* than the "to have hunger" form. I mean : _être affamé _means "to be *very* hungry".


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## kaverison

810senior said:


> @kaverison
> Would you tell me what to say or be similar to "I'm starving(extremely hungry)" and "my stomach is rumbling(because of hunger)" in Tamil?



@810senior,

We do have some expressions to mean big hunger. Let me try:
*kadumaiyaana pasi = *hunger that is harsh
_*kadumai *_= harsh, severe from U.Chicago Tamil Lexicon and from Starling database, it could also mean trouble
often replaceable with *kodumai *= cruelty
probably == _akoora pasi_, akora may be the equivalent word in Sanskrit.


spoken:
*pasi vayatthai killuthu* = hunger is pinching my stomach;
_*pasi kaathai ataikkuthu*_ = ear blocking because of hunger

vayiRu > vayaRu (spoken) = stomach
kaathu = ear

*kola(i)** pasi* = killing hunger;


I just remembered couple of proverbs - from Wiktionary:
_*1) பசி* வந்தால் பத்தும் பறக்கும்_.  = roughly once you get (really) hungry, nothing else matters!
*2)* _*பசி* ருசி அறியாது  = hunger doesn't know taste = when you are hungry, you eat anything!_

_பத்தும் பறக்கும் literally means all the 10 will fly away. Don't really know what this is; proverbs often have words corrupted so much, that they look totally different from the original expression but still convey the meaning.
_

**** You probably heard (of) the song
_why this, kola veri, kola veri, kola veri di;_[Video link removed by moderator, as per Forum Rules#4]
This Tamil pop song was briefly popular on the net. One night some Armenian kids told me they loved India. When I asked why (I had my own laundry list), they said, it's the land of kola veri song!!!
Incidentally, that's a good (worst) example of Tamingilam (Tamil + English) mashup.


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## 810senior

@kaverison, thanks for details and explanation!


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## mexerica feliz

In Brazilian Portuguese, just like we make distinction between SER (permanent) and ESTAR (transitory),
we make distinction in the sense of ''having'': TER (permanent _have_) and ESTAR COM (transitory _have_)
(_estar com _is also used in Portugal but it's not preferred, _estar con_ is also heard in Argentine Spanish, it's not rare at all).

So,
the normal expression for ''be hungry'' in Brazil is ''be with hunger'', that is ESTAR COM FOME:

A gente está com fome. = We're hungry.

TER FOME (''have hunger'') gives you an idea of permanent hunger:

Gente na África tem fome. = People in Africa are suffering from hunger.

(this would be just one step ''less serious'' than  _Gente na África está passando fome.
estar passando fome = _be starving)_._


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## ThomasK

I think we need to pay attention indeed. There is often quite a different connotation.

Peterdg pointed out that we have both _to be hungry_ and _to have hunger_ in Dutch, but the _have_ expression suggests hunger better. _Hongerig_ _zijn_ seems like a state of... stomach, not implying a (desperate) need for food to me. Someone who is _affamé_ in French on the other hand, needs food rightaway, whereas the other avant (...) faim might be able to wait for a little while... So at least one of both is more common and more direct, I think...

@kaverison: is your language often that metaphorical?


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## bigic

Serbian - the expression used is "biti gladan", which means "to be hungry". E.g. "ja sam gladan". "Imati glad" sounds ridiculous.


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## SuperXW

In Chinese "hungry" 饿 is considered more as an adjective or a verb. So there is no "have hunger".
The formal word 饥饿 can be a noun word for "hunger". However, it cannot be simply used to say "I have hunger". It is usually used to discuss "the problem of hunger".


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## kaverison

ThomasK said:


> @kaverison: is your language often that metaphorical?



Hi @ThomasK, Sorry went into the other (programming) language world for a bit.

I would say yes. I will assume all old languages are to some extent.

In Tamil, we have உவமை (uvamai) simile?, உருவகம் (uruvakam) - metaphor as part of the grammar. Apparently there are 15 types of metaphors. (See Wikipedia).

Other forms of figure of speech, such as *synecdoche* and *metonymy* (I honestly didn't know former existed in English and never had to look up latter. Thanks for creating the opportunity!) also fill the language in literature and spoken language. In Tamil we call it ஆகு பெயர் (aaku peyar). And there are 19 types of these.

I will have to dig some more to find examples. Will do so soon.


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## ilocas2

Czech, very colloquially:

žízeň (thirst) = žíža
I have thirst. - *Mám žížu.*

there is slang name for village Žizníkov - Žížák


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## merquiades

I've often wondered about the French:  _avoir très faim, avoir très soif_.

Just like Spanish and Italian, the usual way is "to have hunger/thirst", but whereas these languages logically use "_mucha/molta_" to qualify "_hambre/fame, sed/sete_", literally "I have much hunger/thirst (this is normal being hunger/ thirst nouns and not adjectives), French treats the nouns kind of like (pseudo)adjectives.
_J'ai très faim_ is literally I have very hunger
_J'ai très soif_,  I have very thirst.


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## Dymn

Gavril said:


> _Mae syched arnaf i_ "I am thirsty", lit. "There is thirst upon me"


Does Welsh have a fixed verb for "to have" or has to recur to structures like this "X is upon me", like Russian у меня есть X "by me is X"?



Glockenblume said:


> It's about two different psychological kinds of caracter and behaviour. Fromm struggles for the mood "to be" and regrets that in our consumerist society, "to have" has so much importance.


This is interesting, but too radically Whorfianist, I'm afraid 

Did the Communist Revolution take place in Russia because Russian lacks a common verb for "to have"? 



mexerica feliz said:


> we make distinction in the sense of ''having'': TER (permanent _have_) and ESTAR COM (transitory _have_)
> (_estar com _is also used in Portugal but it's not preferred, _estar con_ is also heard in Argentine Spanish, it's not rare at all).


This reminds me of the _ser-estar _distinction in Spanish, which goes along the lines of "permanent _be_" and "transitory _be_".

----

Apart from the already mentioned cold-hot or thirsty-hungry pairs, in which English uses "be + adj" while Romance languages prefer "have + n", I think it also covers other bodily phenomena:

"I'm sleepy":

Catalan: _Tinc son_
Spanish: _Tengo sueño
_
Lit.: "I have sleep"

Even, in childish language:

"I have to pee".

Catalan: _Tinc pipí_
Spanish: _Tengo pis / Tengo pipi
_
Lit: "I have pee"


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## Gavril

Dymn said:


> Does Welsh have a fixed verb for "to have" or has to recur to structures like this "X is upon me", like Russian у меня есть X "by me is X"?



Usually it uses prepositional constructions with the verb "be". The specific preposition varies depending on what you are saying; e.g. _gyda_ "with" is more common than _ar_ "on, upon" as in the example above.


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## ilocas2

Upper Sorbian:

hungry
*sym hłódny* - I am hungry

thirsty
*sym lačny* - I am thirsty
*mi chce so pić* - it wants to drink to me


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## Sardokan1.0

In Sardinian we can use both structures

I'm hungry = _So famídu_
I'm thirsty = _So sitídu / So sidídu_
I'm sleepy = _So sonnídu_

I have hunger = _Happo fàmene / Tenzo Fàmene_ (I keep hunger)
I have thirst = _Happo sítis-sídis / Tenzo sítis-sídis _
I have sleep = _Happo sonnu / Tenzo sonnu_


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## KalAlbè

Haitian Creole:
Mwen Grangou = I hungry
No verb needed.


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## apmoy70

Sardokan1.0 said:


> In Sardinian we can use both structures
> 
> I'm hungry = _So famídu_
> I'm thirsty = _So sitídu / So sidídu_
> I'm sleepy = _So sonnídu_


Well, Greek uses active verbs for the three aforementioned concepts (not even deponents that usually express reflexivity) and doesn't use specialised reflexive pronouns:

I'm hungry: *«Πεινώ»* [piˈno] (lit. _I hunger_)
I'm thirsty: *«Διψώ»* [ðiˈp͡so] (lit. _I thirst_)
I'm sleepy: *«Νυστάζω»* [niˈstazo] (lit. _I slumber_)*** 

***MoGr v. *«νυστάζω»* [niˈstazo] < Classical v. *«νυστάζω» nŭstázō* --> _to slumber, be sleepy_ (the striking resemblance with some Baltic expressions e.g. Lith. snaudžiu, _to slumber_, and with an _l-suffix_, snaudālius, _sleepy man_ = Gr. νυσταλέος (nŭstăléŏs) point to a possible PIE root *snud- _to be sleepy, slumber_).


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