～たい

🧱 Basic Construction:

Verb stem + たいです

Just take the verb in its ます-form, chop off the ます, and add たい!

The grammar form ～たい is a super useful and beginner-friendly way to express your desire to do something!

📝 Examples

• カフェでゆっくりしたいです。
  I want to relax at a cafe.

• 明日は新あたらしい靴くつを買いかいたい。
  I want to buy new shoes tomorrow.

• 友達ともだちと話はなしたくないです。
  I don’t want to talk with my friend.

📒 Particle Note:

Verbs that normally take を can take either を or が with ～たい.

📍 本ほんを読よみたいです。
📍 本ほんが読よみたいです。

Other particles (like に、で、へ) remain unchanged.

📌 Conjugation Tip: ～たい is an い-adjective!

That means you can conjugate it like this:

• Negative:
  　→ 話はなしたくない (don’t want to talk)
• Past:
  　→ 行いきたかった (wanted to go)
• Negative Past:
  　→ 食たべたくなかった (didn’t want to eat)

🧠 “I’ve wanted to…”

If your desire has been ongoing for some time, you can use: ～たいと思おもっています

• 留学りゅうがくしたいと思おもっています。
  → I’ve wanted to study abroad.

🚫 You ≠ Them: Expressing others’ wants

You can’t use ～たい directly to talk about what someone else wants — because it expresses your own desire.

So how do we talk about others’ wants?

✅ Report what someone said:

～たいと言いっていました
例: メアリー]さんは[チベット]に[行いきたいと言いっていました。
→ Mary said she wanted to go to Tibet.

✅ If you saw it or sensed it

Use ～たがっています to describe what someone seems to want — based on their actions or feelings.

• メアリー]さんは[着物きものを着きたがっています。
  ➤ Mary seems to want to wear a kimono.

This is used when:

• You see it in their behavior (e.g. looking at the kimono, talking about it a lot)
• You’re guessing based on what they’re doing or showing

• 💡 Think of ～たがっています as:
  “It looks like they want to…” or “They’re acting like they want to…”

🧠 たがる is an う-verb and always takes the particle を, unlike ～たい which allows が too.

📌 Summary Chart: