Breakdown of Именно этот человек мне нужен.
я
I
человек
person
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
нужен
needed (short form)
Questions & Answers about Именно этот человек мне нужен.
Why do we use мне instead of я to say "I need"?
In Russian, the concept of "I need" is expressed backwards compared to English. It literally translates to "[Someone] is necessary to me". Because the necessity is directed toward you, "I" takes the Dative case, becoming мне.
If the person speaking is a woman, does нужен change to нужна?
No. Нужен is a short adjective meaning "necessary", and it must match the gender of the person or thing that is needed (the grammatical subject). Here, the needed entity is человек (a masculine noun). Therefore, нужен stays masculine, regardless of who is speaking.
What role does именно play in this sentence?
Именно translates to "exactly" or "precisely". It is an emphasizing word. Placing it directly before этот человек stresses that you need this specific person and absolutely no one else.
How would I apply this lesson's topic to say "I need NOBODY" using this same structure?
You would replace этот человек with the Nominative negative pronoun никто (nobody). Because Russian grammar requires a double negative, you must also add не before the adjective. The sentence becomes: Мне никто не нужен (literally: "To me nobody is not necessary").