Expressing Desire: The 〜たい (~tai) Form
To say 'I want to [verb]', you use the ~tai form. This form turns verbs into adjectives, making it extremely easy to conjugate!
How to say 'I want to...'
When you want to express a desire to DO something (like eat, sleep, or go), you attach 〜たい (~tai) to the verb stem.
Importantly, once you attach ~tai, the verb behaves exactly like an i-adjective. This means you conjugate it just like words like 'samui' (cold) or 'takai' (expensive).
Note: ~tai is only used for your OWN desires, or asking a direct question to someone else ('Do you want to...?'). You cannot use it to say 'He wants to...' directly.
Conjugation Rules
Example Sentences
Teacher's Advice (Particles: を vs が)
When using ~tai, you can use EITHER を (o) or が (ga) for the object. 'Sushi o tabetai' and 'Sushi ga tabetai' are both correct. However, が sounds slightly more natural when you want to emphasize WHAT you want.
Students constantly write 彼は行きたいです ('He wants to go') — this is unnatural because you cannot directly know another person's inner desire in Japanese. For third person, use 〜たがっている (行きたがっています) or report their words with 〜と言っていました. The JLPT tests exactly this distinction at N4.
〜たい is for wanting to DO something (verb): 食べたい = I want to eat. 〜が欲しい is for wanting a THING (noun): 車が欲しい = I want a car. Mixing these up (車が食べたい…) is a classic beginner slip that N5 vocabulary questions love to test.
JLPT Exam Patterns
- •Negative and past conjugations (~taku nai, ~takatta) (N5)
- •Answering 'What do you want to do?' using the correct form (N5)
- •Knowing that ~tai is ONLY for first-person (I) or second-person (You, in questions), not third-person (He/She) (N5/N4)
- •Distinguishing 〜たい (want to DO) from 〜が欲しい (want a THING) (N5)
- •Choosing 〜たがっている for third-person desire in sentence-completion questions (N4)
Related Grammar
Practice the ~tai form
Drill the affirmative, negative, and past forms of ~tai until they become second nature.
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