日本語１３２ Xがほしい　V−たい　＝　Expressing Want/Desire

Two patterns are used in Japanese to express desire: ほしい　if the object of desire is a noun (and it is marked by が) you might say:

新しいくるまがほしい

and with V-stem + たい　if what one wants involves action, you might say:

さかなを　たべたい

ポートランドに／へ　いきたい

としょかんで　べんきょうしたい

V−たい　becomes an Adjectives so you can inflect into negative or past:

たべたくない、たべたかった

いきたくない、いきたかった

Two things to note. Since desire is internal, an unobservable feeling, these forms are only used for the first person, i.e., oneself. If you want to talk about a third person’s desires, you have to change to the progressive form of the verb(-がっている) and say

田中さんは新しい くるまが　ほしがっている

田中さんは新しい くるまを／が　かいたがっている

Second, when expressing desire, Japanese describe the object of desire as a source that causes one to respond to it, so the source that causes desire is considered the information of central focus. With ほしい　we usually use が　unless it is the topic of the utterance and then we might use は,while with the V−たい　form we use を or が

Practice

１、田中さん　本　かう

２、上田さん　新しい　ネックレス　ほしい

３、You want to go to Italy/France/China

４、You want a new necktie/ring/earring/CD

５、You want to eat Pizza tonite/Pasta/Steak/Sushi/Katsudon

６、You want to drink Coffee at the Bistro/Juice

７、You want to play video games this weekend

８、You want to study in Japan next year

９、You want a new car/bike/dictionary/TV

１０、You want to read an SF book

１１、You want to wait at the bookstore/station