~てほしい
I want someone to do~
Someone に Verb て form + ほしい
I want something to be~
Noun が Verb て form + ほしい
てほしい means “I want you/something to ~” This is a request. This is a statement of your feelings, so it isn’t suited for formal situations. For formal situations see もらえませんか、いただけませんか
- 読んでほしい – I want (someone) to read this.
- 見てほしい – I want (someone) to look (at me).
- してほしい – I want (someone) to do (it)
てほしい can also be used for non human entities.
- かいぎがはやくおわってほしい – I want the meeting to end quickly.
に and が
に・が ~てほしい
に (desired action) — People, action verbs
が (desired state) – Objects, state verbs
There are 2 main particles used with てほしい, に and が。
に is used to mark the thing you want to perform an action; which generally means people. てほしい is a verb in this pattern.
に marks the target of the desire.
- かれにやってほしい – I want him to do it.
- 子供に勉強してほしい – I want the children to study.
- 母にご飯を作ってほしかった – I wanted my mom to make the food.
- かいぎに終わってほしい – I want the meeting to do end. ✖ (Meeting can’t do “end” to anything)
が is usually used for things with no “volition”. This typically means its a state type sentence. てほしい is an adjective in this pattern.
- 雪がふってほしい – Snow is wanted to fall – I want it to snow.-> I want it to be snowing
- 雪にふってほしい – I want the snow to choose to fall – I want the snow to fall. ✖
(Advanced) You can also sometimes use に for objects. This is typically limited to verbs in the passive voice.
- この本に売れてほしい – I want this book to sell. (Book does the selling) Hope for an action
- この本が売れてほしい – I want this book to be selling. (sold) Hope for a state.
Negative form comparison
I don’t want you to~
Verb て form + ほしくない
I want you not to~
Verb ないで + ほしい
- してほしくない -I don’t want (someone) to do (it)
- あきらめてほしくない – I don’t want (someone) to give up
- 死んでほしくない – I don’t want (someone) to do.
- やらないでほしい – I want (someone) to not do it.
About に (Technical)
The に here is the “target of a psychological action state” に. This means its the same に as
彼に恋する – To be in love with him.
彼のたいどにいらだつ – To be annoyed at his attitude.
Another dictionary describes this as the “state or contents” of a psychological/emotional action. I think this fits better, since it is used with intransitive verbs (state verbs) more than transitive verbs (actions).
Ie: 彼女に愛する✖ 彼女を愛する。○ 彼女に恋する。○
(恋する is actually an intransitive verb, despite being a する verb)
This に could also be interpreted as the “2-party” に; like it’s use with 話す、会う、思う、and あげる.
Source (#9, イ, Section 2, #14)