Ways of Expressing Desire – I want – Tai and Hoshii

Have you ever wondered how to say you want something, or want to do something in Japanese? Or would you even like to say that you don't want to do something? Learning this is very helpful in basic conversation. For this we will learn the form “tai” and “hoshii”.

• The form “tai” is used to indicate that you want to do something. (play/play/kill/sing…)
• The hoshii form is used to indicate that you want something. (object / thing / person / animal)

“Tai” form たい

When you intend to say that you want to do some action, which is a verb, we use the form “tai” たい. the suffix tai works in the same way as “masu” ます. That is, if you want something, you must end the verb with “tai” instead of “masu”.

Example: I want to eat / tabletai desu / 食べたいです

As well as the suffix “masu” or “-tai” has its grammatical forms.

	present/future	Past
Affirmative	tai desu	takatta desu
Negative	takunai desu	takunakatta desu

See a wish list with the form “-tai” that you can learn:

Verb	verb – kanji	tai - romaji	tai - kanji	Meaning
kau	買 う	kaitai	買 い た い	I want to buy
matsu	つ	machitai	待ちたい	I want to wait
noru	乗 る	noritai	乗 り た い	I want to ride
name	飲む	name	飲みたい	I want to drink
shinu	死ぬ	shintai	死にたい	I wanna die
asobu	遊 ぶ	asobitai	遊びたい	I want play
iku	く	ikitai	行きたい	I want to go
oyogu	泳ぐ	oyogitai	泳ぎたい	I want to swim
hanasu	話す	hanashitai	話したい	I want to talk
miru	見る	mitai	見たい	I want to see
suru	する	shitai	し た い	I want to do
kuru	くる	kitai	き た い	I want to come

Learning this you can start creating sentences like this:

• 私は 車を 買いたいです。
• Watashi wa kuruma o kaitai desu;
• I want to buy a car

• 日本へ 行きたいです。
• Nihon and ikitai desu;
• I want to go to Japan

“hoshii” form ほしい / 欲しい

When it comes to nouns, we use the term ほしい to say that we want something. Pay attention to how the sentence is organized:

(私は) noun がほしい です
(watashi wa) Noun ga hoshii desu

The shape hoshii it's quite simple. Just put in whatever substantivity you want, to say that you want something. The shape hoshii can only be used for for things and objects. It should not be used to indicate that you want to do an action, for that there is the form “tai”.

As well as the form “-tai” the hoshii has its grammatical forms:

Format	Kanji	furigana	romaji
Simple form	欲しい	ほしい	hoshii
Past	欲しかった	ほしかった	hoshikatta
Denial	欲しくない	ほしくない	hoshikunai
Past Denial	欲しくなかった	ほしくなかった	hoshikunakatta
-sa form	欲しさ	ほしさ	hoshisa
form -am	欲しそう	ほしそう	hoshisou

Examples: 

Kanji	私は沢山お金が欲しいです.
furigana	わたしはたくさんおかねがほしいです.
romaji	watashi wa takusan okane ga hoshii desu
Portuguese	I want to make a lot of money.

• 田中さんは犬がほしいです;
• Tanaka san wa inu ga hoshii desu
  
• Mr. Tanaka wants a dog;

• あなたは何がほしいですか;
• anata wa nani ga hoshii desu ka
• What you want?

• Today is raining. I want an umbrella;
• kyou wa ame ga futte imasu. kasa ga hoshii desu
• 今日は雨が降っています.傘がほしいです;
• 私は恋人が.ほしいです
• watashi wa koibito ga hoshii desu
• I want a boyfriend/girlfriend;

• 私は日本人の友達 が ほしいです
• watashi wa nihonjin no tomodachi ga hoshii desu
• I want a Japanese friend;

• 私はとても忙しいから、時間 が ほしいです。
• watashi wa totemo isogashii kara, jikan ga hoshii desu
• I'm so busy, I need time;

• 子供の時人形 が ほしかったですが、今はほしくないです。
• kodomo no toki ningyou ga hoshikatta desu ga, ima wa hoshikunai desu;
• I wanted a doll when I was a kid, not now;

• 五年前にカメラ が ほしくなかったですが、今はほしいです。
• gonen mae ni kamera ga hoshikunakatta desu ga, ima wa hoshii desu
• I didn't want a camera from 5 years ago, I want a current one;

Video

Below is a video that can help with the tai form: