In my previous post we looked at three ways of expressing necessity in Italian: occorrere, bisogna and bisogno. Today we’re going to continue the theme with three more common forms.

servire = to need

servire is only used in the third person singular (serve) and plural (servono).

Examples:
per fare il cemento serve la sabbia = to make cement you need sand
per fare il cemento servono la sabbia e l’acqua = to make cement you need sand and water
per costruire un muro servono i mattoni = to build a wall you need bricks

When followed by infinitives, servire is only used in the third singular person.
Examples:
per assemblare un mobile di Ikea serve avere la pazienza di un certosino = to assemble a piece of Ikea furniture you need a lot of patience (literally: the patience of a Carthusian monk). Click on the video below and enjoy!

essere necessario = to be necessary, to need

the expression essere necessario is normally used in the third person singular (è necessario/a) and plural (sono necessari/ie).

Examples:
per fare il cemento è necessaria la sabbia = to make cement you need sand (literally: sand is necessary)
per fare il cemento sono necessarie la sabbia e l’acqua = to make cement you need sand and water (literally: sand and water are necessary)
per costruire un muro sono necessari i mattoni = to build a wall you need bricks (literally: bricks are necessary)

When followed by infinitives, or ‘che‘ and the subjunctive, we only use the third person singular in the masculine form, è necessario.
Examples:

per assemblare un mobile di Ikea è necessario armarsi di pazienza = to assemble a piece of Ikea furniture you need to ‘arm yourself with patience’ (take a deep breath and relax!)
se volete superare gli esami è necessario che studiate e restiate calmi = if you want to pass your exams it’s necessary that you study and remain calm

volerci = to need

the verb volerci is only used in the third person singular (ci vuole) and plural (ci vogliono). N.B. the ci in the verb volerci is not the personal pronoun ‘we’, but part of the verb, and therefore does not change.

Examples:
per fare un tavolo ci vuole un albero = to make a table you need wood
per fare il cemento ci vogliono la sabbia e l’acqua = to make cement you need sand and water
per costruire un muro ci vogliono i mattoni = to build a wall you need bricks

The most common use of the verb volerci is when talking about how much time is needed to do something, e.g.:
quanto ci vuole per finire il muro? = how long will it take to finish the wall? (literally: how much time is needed to finish the wall)
Find out more about this use of volerci in this article: Quanto Tempo?

N.B. the verb volerci is not commonly used with an infinitive or che and the subjunctive. We prefer to use other constructions such as bisogna.