How to say “want” in Japanese: ほしい [hoshii] and more!

You’ll use the word ほしい[hoshii], or 欲しい with kanji, to express your desire for a , like coffee, a car, a sibling, or more time. Though ほしい is often translated using the verb “to want,” in Japanese it’s actually an an i-adjective meaning “wanted (by me).”

This means that ほしい takes the i-adjective endings, but it also means that the thing you want is actually the of the sentence. Here’s the sentence structure to use:

If the listener is someone close to you (e.g., a family member, a best friend), you can also use ほしい can ask what they want, though the question sounds very direct and somewhat blunt.

Like other subjects, the particle が[ga] marks the wanted thing in a neutral sentence, but in other contexts it can be replaced with other particles such as the emphasis marker も[mo] or the topic/contrast marker は[wa], depending on the context.

In Japanese, you’ll attach the ending 〜たい[-tai] to an action you want to do. This ending is attached to the 〜ます[-masu] stem of the verb, meaning the part of its polite form that comes before the 〜ます[-masu] ending. For example:

The 〜たい ending is actually a “helping adjective.” This means it takes endings just like an i-adjective.

Just like with ほしい[hoshii], you can only use 〜たい to describe your own desires or to ask about a familiar listener’s desires. The “wanter” is often omitted.

One way to express the desire of other people is to use ほしがる[hoshigaru] or 〜たがる[-tagaru]. These two expressions are formed by adding 〜がる[garu] to the “wanting” adjectives ほしい and 〜たい, which we saw above.

〜がる[-garu] is a “helping verb” that is often combined with emotion adjectives and means, “showing signs of”. Therefore, ほしがる[hoshigaru] and 〜たがる[-tagaru] mean “showing signs of wanting” or “showing signs of wanting to.”

Just like their adjective versions, ほしがる[hoshigaru] is used after a noun while 〜たがる[-tagaru] is attached to the masu stem of a verb.

However, the sentence structure is a bit different!

When using ほしがる[hoshigaru], the “wanter” is the subject, while the “wanted” is the direct object, marked with を[o], just like in English.

When you use 〜たがる[-tagaru], the “wanter” is the subject, and the direct object of the verb is always marked with を[o]. When you use this expression, you’ll never replace を[o] with が[ga] in these sentences.

As we can see from the examples above, the verb 〜がる[-garu] is conjugated in different forms. In its dictionary form, it is used for general truths (“cats want silvervine”). In its ta-form it can describe past, finished desires (“they wanted ice cream”).

In this same vein, when you want to describe what an individual person currently wants or has been wanting, you’ll need to use the ending 〜がっている[-gatte iru], the 〜ている form of 〜がる[-garu], instead.

You must use the te iru form to describe the desires of individuals. It’s not optional! If we remove the te iru endings from the sentences above, they are ungrammatical.

Wondering how we can talk about what our teachers or bosses want without offending them? Let’s find out in the next section!

Generally, the most polite way to describe what another person wants in Japanese is to present your statement as a quote, a hearsay, or a conjecture. Here’s how to do that!

• As a quote

  We often describe the desires of others by quoting them saying they wanted something. The most common way to do this is to frame the sentence with 〜と言っている[-to itte iru], meaning “says that”.

  You’ll most often use this before the plain form of ほしい[hoshii] or 〜たい[-tai].

  quote expression

  ジョンさんは日本に留学したいと言っています。

  Jon san wa Nihon ni ryūgaku shitai to itte imasu.

  John says that he wants to go to Japan to study.

  If you are talking about what a superior wants, it’s a good idea to use the respectful version of the quote expression: 〜とおっしゃっている[-to osshatte iru].

  quote expression (respectful)

  鈴木先生はドイツ製の車がほしいとおっしゃっています。

  Suzuki sensei wa Doitsu sei no kuruma ga hoshii to osshatte imasu.

  Professor Suzuki says that he wants a German-made car.

  Check out our post on reported speech in Japanese to learn other ways you can describe what someone told you!

• As hearsay

  Another more polite way to describe what someone else wants is to present it as something you’ve heard, generally. Most often, this means framing the sentence with the expression そうだ[sō da], meaning “I’ve heard that…”

  This expression is also preceded by the plain form of ほしい[hoshii] or 〜たい[-tai].

  hearsay expression

  洋子さんはクリスマスにブレスレットがほしいそうですよ。

  Yōko san wa kurisumasu ni buresuretto ga hoshii sō desu yo.

  I’ve heard that Yoko wants a bracelet for Christmas.

  君はエベレストに登りたいそうだね。がんばりなさい。

  Kimi wa Eberesuto ni noboritai sōda ne. Ganbarinasai.

  I’ve heard that you want to climb Mt. Everest. Good luck.

  To learn more about how to express “what you’ve heard” in Japanese, check out our post on Japanese hearsay expressions!

• As conjecture

  Finally, it’s possible to present your statement about someone else’s desire as a conjecture, saying that it seems like someone wants something, based on your own observations. There are a range of expressions you can use for this. For example, 〜ようだ[-yō da] or 〜そうだ[-sō da].

  〜ようだ[-yō da] is preceded by the plain form of ほしい[hoshii] or 〜たい[-tai].

  conjecture expression

  木下さんはどうも会社を辞めたいようですよ。

  Kinoshita san wa dōmo kaisha o yametai yō desu yo.

  It seems that Ms. Kinoshita wants to leave the company, you know.

  → You might say this if you saw that Ms. Kinoshita looks unhappy and is often browsing job sites during work.

  〜そうだ[-sō da] is preceded by ほしい[hoshii] or 〜たい[-tai] with the final い[i] removed.

  hearsay expression

  その犬は水がほしそうですよ。

  Sono inu wa mizu ga hoshisō desu yo.

  The dog looks like she wants water.

  めいちゃん、何か食べたそうだね。

  Mei chan, nanika tabetasōda ne.

  It seems that you want to eat something, Mei.

The ending 〜てほしい[-te hoshii] is composed of the te-form of a verb combined with the helping adjective ほしい[hoshii], which we introduced above. You’ll use this ending if you (the speaker) want someone else to take some action. You can also use it to ask someone what they want someone to do.

Here is the structure to follow. Notice that ほしい[hoshii] can be conjugated as an i-adjective, just as we saw above!

Notice that in the second example, the doer + に[ni] was left out! This is perfectly fine to do if you want the person you’re talking to to do something. You’ll usually also drop the “wisher,” since that should also be clear from context, but if you want to include it, use the structure wisher + は[wa].

When the verb you want someone to do takes the , it’s marked with を[o] and most often follows the “doer."

You can also use 〜てほしい when there is no “doer” because you simply want something to happen, like a natural phenomenon, or when you want something to be the case. The sentence structure looks the same, but the “doer” is simply left out.

We can also use 〜てもらいたい[-te moraitai] to say that you want someone to do something. When using this expression, you’ll also put the action you want someone to do in its te-form, but this time you’ll end the sentence with もらいたい[moraitai]. Similarly, this can either be used to state what you (the speaker) want someone to do or to ask what your listener wants someone to do.

It uses a similar sentence structure too!

And just like we saw with 〜てほしい[-te hoshii], there are two ways to negate 〜てもらいたい[-te moraitai]:

〜てほしい[-te hoshii] and 〜てもらいたい[-te moraitai] can both only be used to state what you want someone to do, or to ask what your listener wants something to do. If you want to make a statement about a third person’s desires, you’ll want to add 〜がる[-garu] to these expressions, just like we saw above!

You could also present it as a quote, as hearsay, or as conjecture as well!