たい (tai) — Expressing Desire
Expresses the speaker's own desire to perform an action ("want to ~"). It transforms the verb into an い-adjective, so it conjugates exactly like a standard い-adjective (たい/たくない/たかった).
Structure
[Verb masu-stem] + たい (です)
Examples
日本に行きたいです。
Nihon ni ikitai desu.
I want to go to Japan.
行き (masu-stem of 行く) + たい (want) + です (polite)
水が飲みたい。
Mizu ga nomitai.
I want to drink water.
When expressing raw desire, the object particle を often shifts to が (what you want is treated like the subject).
今日は何もしたくない。
Kyou wa nani mo shitakunai.
I don't want to do anything today.
したい → したくない: conjugates negatively just like an い-adjective (drop い, add くない).
• 1st-Person Restriction: たい is normally only for your OWN desires. To talk about what someone ELSE wants, use たがっている (彼は行きたがっています) or quote them (行きたいと言っていました). • Particle Shift: When you want to interact with an object (drink water, eat sushi), を strongly prefers shifting to が. "水を飲みたい" is understood, but "水が飲みたい" is more natural.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones たい is tested against.
vs ほしい (want a thing)
ほしい takes a NOUN and marks it with が (水がほしい = I want water). たい attaches to a VERB stem for wanting to DO something (水が飲みたい = I want to drink water).
vs 〜ましょうか / 〜ませんか (offer/invite)
たい states your own wish; ましょうか offers to do something and ませんか invites the listener. "食べたい" = I want to eat; "食べませんか" = won't you eat (with me)?
vs たがる (3rd-person desire)
For observed desire of others you must switch たい → たがる (行きたがる). Using bare たい about a third party sounds like mind-reading.
More expressions
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