Expressing Want / Desire

You can only use 欲しい and –たい to directly express that you want or desire something, not that someone else wants something. To express that someone else wants something you need to use different words (欲しがる and –たがる).

You can use 欲しい and –たい when quoting someone or expressing that someone probably wants something.

Tokini Andy on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RjF-k28kMkw

Yourself

With nouns

Use 欲しい 「ほしい」。It is an い adjective and conjugates as such. Usually used with が marking the object.

Typical usage: 「object」が欲しいです。

Examples

• アイスコーヒーがほしいです: I want iced coffee
• 昨日、トンカツが欲しくなかった: I didn't want Tonkatsu yesterday
• 大きなテレビが欲しかった: I wanted a big TV
• 温かいビールが欲しくない: I don't want warm beer

With verbs

Use –たい。

For others

You can't directly say something like "Bob wants a dog" in Japanese, it's too presumptive. You have to say something more like "It looks like Bob wants a dog".

With nouns

Use 欲しがる。This is a godan verb and is usually in the –ている form, I.e 欲しがっている。It uses the を particle.

メアリさんは猫を欲しがっています。: (It appears that) Mary wants a cat

With verbs

Use –たがる