Learn Arabic › A1 › حاجَة
حاجَة
need /ˈħaː.dʒa/
nounA1#211 most common
Also: necessity, want, thing (colloquial Egyptian)
Example sentences
أنا في حاجة إلى مُساعَدة.
I need help.
لَيْسَتْ هُناكَ حاجة لِلْقَلَق.
There is no need to worry.
قَضَيْتُ حاجَتي مِنَ السوق.
I got what I needed from the market.
الإنسان كائِن اجْتِماعي في حاجة دائِمة إلى الآخَرين.
A human is a social being in constant need of others.
الحاجة أُمُّ الاخْتِراع، كَما يَقولُ المَثَل.
Necessity is the mother of invention, as the saying goes.
لا حاجة بِنا إلى مَن يُذَكِّرُنا بِواجِباتِنا.
We have no need of anyone to remind us of our duties.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | حاجةٌ | حاجاتٌ |
| Genitive | حاجةٍ | حاجاتٍ |
| Accusative | حاجةً | حاجاتٍ |
| Vocative | حاجةُ | حاجاتُ |
Word family
احْتاجَto need, to require
مُحْتاجneedy, in need
احْتِياجneed, requirement
حاجاتneeds, things (plural)
حَوائِجneeds, necessities, belongings
Etymology
حاجة derives from the Semitic root ح-و-ج, which carries the sense of needing or wanting. In Modern Standard Arabic it means a need or a necessity. In Egyptian Arabic the same word, pronounced ḥāga, became the everyday word for a thing or something. The drift from need to thing is a common path: what one requires becomes any object at hand.
Learn Arabic the way that sticks.
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,080 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,080 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free