Expressing the Desire/Wish to Do Something in Japanese

When I went to Japan for the first time years ago, this is something I simply couldn't express: the wish/desire to do something. "I want to go there, I would like to taste this food, I wish I could try that one day, ...".

In this case, the dictionary doesn't help much because there isn't really a way to translate the word "want" or "would like". What you need to do, though, isn't too difficult: simply use the -tai form of a verb.

For example, "I want to eat" would be 食べたい (tabetai). "I want to drink": 飲みたい (nomitai), "I want to go": 行きたい (ikitai).

This tai-form of a verb is very useful and not too hard to remember/use.

In the cases the person desiring an action is not the same as the person performing the action, you need to use something else. For example: "I want him to do this". You cannot use the V-tai form because it would mean "I want to do this (myself)". In that case, you need to use the "-te hoshii" form. In the previous example (a bit vague to have a proper translation), something like "彼がこれをしてほしい" would be used (sounds very textbook but please focus on the -te hoshii form).

I want him to come tonight: 今夜,彼が来てほしいです。(konya karega kite hoshii desu)

I would like it to snow: 雪が降ってほしい。(yuki ga futte hoshii)

After hoshii, you should use です (desu) in formal occasion or nothing for familiar/informal language.

Hope this helps you expressing your desire to do something or desire that something is done by someone.

Happy New Year 2014!

Happy New Year to all the readers of this blog!

You are more and more people visiting these few pages and I want to thank you for that. When I started this blog I didn't know so many people would be interested in it. Don't hesitate by the way to leave some comments (is something still not clear, do you want to know more about that, etc...).

What will you do in 2014? Learn some more Japanese? Go to Japan? Take some Japanese tests?

Good luck in any case and have a wonderful year.