Desires
This page covers the most basic ways to express:
・What you want to do
・What you want others to do
・What others appear to want to do.
~ほしい
I want a
Nounがほしい
ほしい is an い adjective that is used to express “I want a”. It is used for nouns. As this is an adjective (state), you must use が。
- 本がほしい – (someone) wants a book.
- 私は猫がほしい – I want a cat.
- ピカチュウがほしい – (someone) wants a Pikachu.
- 子供の時、猫がほしかった – When I was a child, I wanted a cat.
See also てほしい
~たい
I want to (verb)
All verbs: ます stem + たい
Irregular – する→したい くる→きたい (rarely used)
The ～たい form of a verb indicates “I want to do“; such as I want to eat. たい is an adjective that attaches to the verb ます stem.
There are 2 ways you can use たい:
As a “verb”:
- 私はケーキを食べたい。- I want to eat cake.
- さけをのみたい – I want to drink alcohol.
As an adjective (most common)
- かれがたべたいたべもの。 – Food he wants to eat.
- ぼくが見たいえいが – The movie I want to see.
- ぼくはえいががみたい – I want to see a movie.
- さけがのみたい – I want to drink alcohol.
を and が
You may have noticed we can replace を with が. This is because the たい form was originally a verb, but is now an adjective. The particle determines whether you are using the たい form as a verb or as an adjective, though meaning wise there isn’t too much difference.
- 私はピザを食べたいです– I want to eat pizza. — Generic statement. たべたい uses を like a verb.
- 私はピザがたべたいです- I, Pizza is want to eat. — I specifically want pizza. たべたい is an adjective.
を treats 食べたい as “want to eat” (action focus); while が treats it as “desirable to eat” (Object focus).
Since ～たい has a specific, narrow target, が is used most of the time. Longer sentences tend to use を instead; probably to keep sentences simple or the たい wasn’t decided yet. (Japanese link)
~がる
“Act like”
Replace final い of い adjective with がる
がる is a special kind of verb that replaces the last い of い adjectives. It means “acting like“. * It is used for other people. Because it is a verb, expect to use を。がる is usually in the progressive tense.
*がる technically means: To show with your attitude or actions that you feel or think X
Examples
- 彼は強がっている – He’s acting tough
- 彼女は怖がっている – She’s acting afraid.
- 私は怖がっている – I’m acting like I’m scared. ✖ I would know that I am scared.
たがる
To act like they want to do~
を＋Verb stem ＋たがる – to act like they want to…
The たい form is an い adjective; so we can use がる with it. たい + がる(acting like) is たがる.
It is a verb. This is used for when you think someone else looks like they want to do something. You cannot use it with yourself. It is often used in the present progressive tense (ている).
- 彼がケーキを食べたがっている – He’s acting like he wants to eat cake.
- 先生が何かを言いたがっている – The teacher is acting like they want to say something.
- 彼はビールを飲みたがっている – He’s acting like he wants to drink beer.
ほしがる
to act like they want a…
Nounをほしがる
Similarly, since ほしい is also an い adjective, we can use がる. ほしい＋がる is ほしがる. It is also a verb. It’s used in much the same way as たがる, but with nouns.
- 彼は猫を欲しがっている。He’s acting like he wants a cat.
- そのリンゴを欲しがっている – (someone) is acting like they want that apple.
Other がる words
Although がる can attach to い adjectives, in practice it’s limited to a few specific ones. Aside from たがる and ほしがる, it can also be used with:
- つよい – つよがる
- かわいい – かわいがる (This one has a second meaning of “to be biased to”
- こわい – こわがる
Examples
- 彼は強がっている – He’s acting like he’s strong. – pretending to be tough.
- かれはむすめをかわいがっている – He’s acting like his daughter is cute -> always take her side.