# Envie (French), ganas (Spanish), feel like...



## ThomasK

How would you express those expressions all referring to the English "feel like" [_I feel like living to the full_]? Especially: do you need "have" or can you use it? (Might be appropriate nowadays with C causing disruption...)

Dutch: 
- "ik heb *zin*" (which by the way is the same word as "sense" and sometimes "directions" (in wijzerzin/ clockwise) [and even "sentence"])
- (Flemish variant) "ik heb *goesting*", which seems to be less abstract, more like a gut feeling, starting from the "belly", not the head or heart... ;-) -- it obviously refers to _*goût *_in French, _*gusta *_in Spanish, etc. 

I just something like "siento *ganas*" or something the like [in a book by Ivan Illich], where this "ganas" seems to have a very specific meaning (reminding me of "goesting")... 

French: *envie *- which oddly enough is a homonym of "envy" in French, though "envier" is only a verb, if I am not mistaken.


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## Dymn

In *Catalan *we also say "_tinc ganes_" like in Spanish, with the caveat that in the singular form it means hunger: "_tinc gana_" = "_I'm hungry_"


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## symposium

In Italian it's "avere voglia di...", from "volere" = to want" (io voglio =  I want). It roughly means "to have a craving for...": "I feel like living to the full" = "Ho voglia di vivere la vita al massimo". "Aren't you going out tonight? I don't feel like it" = " Non esci stasera? Non ne ho voglia".


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## ThomasK

Just wondering:
- could one say that  _*ganas *_refers to the belly somehow? Like our *goesting*?
- _voglia _< _volere_: where is the basis of your willpower? Would you have any idea? Is there any answer to that? Any hunch? _[This is not a biological issue, just a question referring to metaphors that might point to what a native speaker might linguistically associate with the will…]_


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## symposium

I don't think that "volere" or "voglia" are located anywhere in the body. There's no relation between "volere" and a body part in Italian.


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## Welsh_Sion

Celtic languages traditionally (Breton has echoes owing to French influence, but otherwise it's non-existent in the other 5 extant languages) don't have a verb 'to have' so in order to express e.g. hunger, we have to say:

*Mae eisiau bwyd arnaf fi*
Is want food on me

Further, '*eisiau*' itself, although often glossed in English as 'to want', is actually a noun and not a verb. More modern usage with regard to 'hunger on-me',

*Dw i eisiau bwyd*
Am I wanting food


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## ThomasK

For sure, for sure. But sometimes you notice that people spontaneously refer to parts of the body, for example to the stomach, when having trouble digesting a blame or something. It need not be based on facts, it is just a habit in a culture....

@Welsh_Sion: is wanting here like needing or wishing, I wonder?


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## Circunflejo

Tengo ganas.
Siento ganas.
Me entran ganas.
Me dan ganas.

As far as I know, it isn't related with any body part but it's of unknown origin so who knows!


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## ThomasK

But maybe: what is in your view the difference with "me gustas" (if I am not mistaken)? Is it stronger? I referred to goesting saying that it seems to be more physical, "felt", than the "abstract" sense...


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## Circunflejo

ThomasK said:


> what is in your view the difference with "me gustas" (if I am not mistaken)?


Me gustas=I like you. In order to relate gustar with tener ganas, you would need to use the conditional of gustar. For example: me gustaría tomar un helado (I would like to eat an ice cream). Tengo ganas de tomar un helado (I want to eat an ice cream).


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## Olaszinhok

Actually *voglia*  is also a birthmark in Italian:
_Giulia ha una voglia a forma di fragola sul suo braccio._
Giulia has a strawberry-shaped birthmark on her arm.


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## ThomasK

Aha, and then you would have (about) perfect synonyms, or no: the _*ganas *_expression is stronger, I suppose. The difference with _me gustas _is mainly grammatical, or syntactic, I guess.


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## Circunflejo

ThomasK said:


> the _*ganas *_expression is stronger, I suppose.





ThomasK said:


> The difference with _me gustas _is mainly grammatical, or syntactic, I guess.


Yes, but note that we are talking just about _me gustaría_. Me gusta tomar un helado means I like to eat an ice cream. Me gustó tomar un helado contigo means I liked to eat an ice cream with you. Just with the conditional (me gustaría), the meaning can be related with tener ganas.


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## ThomasK

So the difference is: like vs. would like, you mean...


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## symposium

Olaszinhok said:


> Actually *voglia*  is also a birthmark in Italian:
> _Giulia ha una voglia a forma di fragola sul suo braccio._
> Giulia has a strawberry-shaped birthmark on her arm.


That's because according to legend, if a pregnant woman craves (ha voglia) for a food and doesn't eat it, the baby is born with a birthmark the shape and colour of which are reminiscent of the food the mother was craving for. That's why we call it "una voglia (a craving)". I'm sure this legend can be found in many cultures.


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## Circunflejo

ThomasK said:


> So the difference is: like vs. would like, you mean...


Me gusta=I like. Me gustaría=I would like. Tengo ganas=I want to make something/I have wishes of making something.


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## Olaszinhok

symposium said:


> That's because according to legend, if a pregnant woman craves (ha voglia) for a food and doesn't eat it, the baby is born with a birthmark the shape and colour of which are reminiscent of the food the mother was craving for.


Yes, exactly.


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## ThomasK

Thanks, all of you! (I had not heard about the legend, Symposium!)


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## AndrasBP

The Hungarian equivalent of 'ganas' or 'envie' is '*kedv*', an old Hungarian word of uncertain origin. 
Its derivatives include 'kedvel' (v. like), 'kedves' (adj. kind) and 'kedvenc' (adj. favourite).

Just like Welsh and Russian, we don't use the verb 'to have':

Van *kedv*ed olvasni? = Do you feel like reading? / ¿Tienes ganas de leer?
van = (there) is
kedv = 'ganas'
-ed = 'your' (possessive suffix)
olvasni = to read


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## Armas

Finnish:
*tehdä mieli* lit. "to do mind", the syntax is weird here, but you can also say _*mieleni tekee*_ lit. "my mind does"
_minun tekee mieli lukea_ lit. "of mine does mind to read" = "I feel like reading"
_mieleni tekee lukea_ lit. "my mind does to read"

*huvittaa* "to amuse": _minua huvittaa lukea_ lit. "[it] amuses me to read"
*haluttaa* < _haluta_ "to desire": _minua haluttaa lukea_ lit. "[it] makes me desire to read"

Some verbs with the causative suffix can have this sense. _Huvittaa_ and _haluttaa_ are formed with the causative suffix as well. For example *tanssittaa* "to make someone dance" can also mean "to feel like dancing", the verb is then used impersonally: _minua tanssittaa_ lit. "[it] makes me dance".


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## ThomasK

So feeling like is a matter of the mind, one could say... ;-) Fun and desire do rhyme with feeling like... 

Causative form: nice, interesting, I think I understand the link. Like triggering.


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## Olaszinhok

Armas said:


> Some verbs with the causative suffix can have this sense. _Huvittaa_ and _haluttaa_ are formed with the causative suffix as well. For example *tanssittaa* "to make someone dance" can also mean "to feel like dancing", the verb is then used impersonally: _minua tanssittaa_ lit. "[it] makes me dance".


If I am not mistaken, something similar occurs with the Italian verb *invogliare. Il bel tempo m'invoglia ad uscire/ mi fa venir voglia/ desiderare di uscire - *Lovely weather makes me want to go out; I fancy going out in lovely weather...


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## ThomasK

Good addition! I consider turning it into a separate thread...


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## Sardokan1.0

In Sardinian works like Spanish and Catalan.

_Happo gana de ...._
_Tenzo gana de ......_
_Ganadu (adjective) = wishful, longing, greedy_


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## ThomasK

Interesting: I notice a link with greed… It is quite a strong feeling, I suppose!


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## merquiades

Circunflejo said:


> Tengo ganas.
> Siento ganas.
> Me entran ganas.
> Me dan ganas.
> 
> As far as I know, it isn't related with any body part but it's of unknown origin so who knows!


Doesn't it just come originally from the verb "ganar"and then it morphed?


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## Welsh_Sion

I don't think it's like 'wishing'. Perhaps more like 'food is lacking to me' , so, ergo, 'I am hungry'. I don't think we often use expressions with 'wish' that often outside sending someone best (birthday) greetings or narrating that a genie in a lamp has given you three wishes.

It's more common to feature the conditional of 'like': *Hoffwn i (+SM) …. * - I'd like ….

As for 'I wish I were ….' the use of the subjunctive of the verb to be or the equivalent of 'it would be better if ...'


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## Circunflejo

merquiades said:


> Doesn't it just come originally from the verb "ganar"and then it morphed?


The DRAE quotes it as unknown origin. Some sort of link with ganar sames likely but the origin of ganar isn't fully clear either. Maybe in the EHL forum there's someone with more knowledge about the subject.


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## merquiades

@Circunflejo  This here site says *ganar* is a word of Gothic origin and originally meant _to covet_, so *gana* is _covetousness_.  That would actually make *gana*'s origin very similar to *envie*'s origin "to envy"/ "to covet" with a similar contemporary change in meaning towards "to feel like":  Tengo ganas de llorar/ J'ai envie de pleurer.


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## Circunflejo

merquiades said:


> This here site says *ganar* is a word of Gothic origin


Yes, the DRAE algo gives a Gothic origin to _ganar _but it isn't categorical about it. It could also be related with Old Norse… Anyway, I don't know too much about etymology so that's about all I can say.


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## Penyafort

There was also _gairnei _in Gothic, meaning 'desire, longing', to which the English verb _yearn _is clearly related.


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## symposium

And I suppose that French "gagner" and Italian "guadagnare" also come from that verb...


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## ThomasK

And so funny: it has to do with hunting, grazing, etymologically! We still say: "we winnen energy". It is something like (trying to) harvest, that intention, I guess, which is also based on yearning, envie, etc....



Welsh_Sion said:


> I don't think it's like 'wishing'. Perhaps more like 'food is lacking to me' , so, ergo, 'I am hungry'. I don't think we often use expressions with 'wish' that often outside sending someone best (birthday) greetings or narrating that a genie in a lamp has given you three wishes.


 Can one say: "food is wanting"? (I guess so but I am not sure). As for wishing it generally has a egotistic aspect (wish for myself) and an altruistic one (I wish you...). Not in Welsh?


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