How to Say “I Want” in Japanese (Explained with Ties)

It’s a typical weekday evening and a salaryman is slumped in the aisle of a run-down discount store. For some reason, he is crying.

A worried store employee comes over to ask what the problem is, and he answers: “I want to buy a ネクタイ (nekutai) — necktie!”

“How odd, it appears all our ties are in the Japanese learning resources section. What could a necktie possibly have to do with studying Japanese?” The employee responds.

As it happens, a tie—or more accurately a -tai—is crucial for expressing “I want” in Japanese.

Continue reading to master how to express wants and desires in Japanese using the best memory aid: the simple necktie.

Expressing Desires in Japanese

A common suggestion for new language learners is to think in the language they are learning, rather than translating into it. The issue with direct translation is that natural phrasing in our first language isn't always natural in our target language. This often results in output that sounds awkward, even if it's comprehensible.

While translating anything into another language might be technically possible, the translation often becomes unclear due to various reasons—such as cultural differences, the relative simplicity of certain grammar points, or even trends in popular culture.

In this article, I will cover types of desire that are grammatically separate in Japanese but not in English. Although English uses just two forms of the verb "to want" for all these, attempting a direct translation into Japanese will likely be wrong in three out of four cases.

To handle this particular issue, and also to move away from mental translation, I suggest you adopt a two-step method.

1. Focus not on the words you are translating but on the concept you wish to communicate.

2. Understand how the Japanese language expresses this concept.

In short, don't consider how to say "I want a (something)" in Japanese. Instead, consider the difference between expressing "I want (something)" and "I want (to do something)."

1. Using ～欲しい (hoshii) with nouns: I want a necktie, not a bow tie

We’ll begin with ～欲しい because, even though it's the reverse of English, the structure is very simple to create. Attaching ～欲しい to a noun indicates your desire for that noun.

Note: When using hoshii to express desires, the kanji version (欲しい) is more frequently used with nouns, while the hiragana version (ほしい) is used with verbs, like when you want to perform an action (as you will see later in the third section).

There are three steps:

1. Choose a noun. Any noun.

2. Attach the particle が (ga) . For more advanced learners, the particle は (wa) or even の (no) might sometimes be used.

3. Place 欲しい (hoshii [informal] ) or 欲しいです (hoshii desu [formal] ) after the particle.

欲しい is an い (i)-adjective and here are some of its basic conjugations:

Present positive: 欲しい (hoshii) — want

Present negative: 欲しくない (hoshikunai) — don’t want

Past positive: 欲しかった (hoshikatta) — wanted

Past negative: 欲しくなかった (hoshikunakatta) — didn’t want

So, let's return to our story and go back a bit. Suppose the employee didn't clearly hear the salaryman because he was crying too hard. She might say:

すみません。何が欲しいですか？ (Sumimasen. Nani ga hoshii desu ka?) Excuse me. What is it that you want?

Prompted, the man repeats that he wants a necktie.

ネクタイ…ネクタイが欲しいです。 (Nekutai… nekutai ga hoshii desu.) A necktie… I want a necktie.

The employee nods and says, “Right this way, please.” She guides him down a few aisles and, pointing to a display of ties, uses a variation of the structure we just learned.

欲しいものがありますか？ (Hoshii mono ga arimasu ka?) Is there something that you want?

(Here, 欲しいもの (hoshii mono) is similar to saying “the desired item.”)

The salaryman stares in disbelief, following the shopkeeper's look to see he is facing a shelf filled with bow ties. A bit annoyed, he replies:

ボウタイじゃなくて、ネクタイが欲しいです！ (Boutai janakute, nekutai ga hoshii desu!) I want a necktie, not a bow tie!

If you wish to state specifically that you don't want something, は is often used instead of が. Our salaryman could also have said:

あっ、すみません。ボウタイは欲しくないです。ネクタイが欲しいです。 (Aa, sumimasen. Boutai wa hoshikunai desu. Nekutai ga hoshii desu.) Ahh, sorry. I don’t want a bow tie. I want a necktie.

2. Using ～たい (tai) with verbs: I want to buy this necktie

If you don't desire an object, but instead wish to perform an action, you should use the ～たい form with a verb.

This form indicates that you want to do the action that the ～たい is attached to.

This form can also be created in three steps.

1. Choose a verb. Any verb.

2. Change that verb to its ～ます (masu) form .

3. Replace ～ます with ～たい.

To practice forming this verb form, see uTexas’s website . (Note that you’ll need to install a Japanese keyboard to use this website).

Here are some examples of the form in use:

見る (miru) — to see: 見る → 見ます (mimasu) → 見たい (mitai) — I want to see/look…

売る (uru) — to sell: 売る → 売ります (urimasu) → 売りたい (uritai) — I want to sell…

買う (kau) — to buy: 買う → 買います (kaimasu) → 買いたい (kaitai) — I want to buy…

It might seem a little unusual, but the ～たい form of verbs is special because it conjugates like い-adjectives. This is helpful for us, though, because it means we can use the same conjugations for ～たい and ～ほしい!

Here’s the verb 買う (kau) , for example.

Present positive: 買いたい (kaitai) ― I want to buy (something).

Present negative: 買いたくない (kaitakunai) ― I don’t want to buy (something).

Past positive: 買いたかった (kaitakatta) ― I wanted to buy (something).

Past negative: 買いたくなかった (kaitakunakatta) ― I didn’t want to buy (something).

To make these polite, just add です (desu) to the end of each example above.

Let's return to our story. The two are now in front of a rack of neckties. Notice how the employee asks our salaryman for more details.

では、どんなネクタイを買いたいですか？ (Deha, donna nekutai o kaitai desu ka?) So, what sort of necktie do you want to buy?

( Note: While we normally use ～たがる (tagaru) form to talk about the desires of others, as we’ll learn in section four, the normal ～たい form is still used if you’re asking someone a question.)

The salaryman examines the assortment of ties and, somewhat disheartened, uses a variation of this structure, with the word もの (mono) — “thing.”

うーん、試着したいものが一つもないな。 (Uun, shichaku shitai mono ga hitotsu mo nai na.) Hmm, I don’t even see one that I want to try on.

The employee, taken aback by this very direct reply, responds:

あの、先程のボウタイをもう一度見たくないですか？ (Ano, sakihodo no boutai o mōichido mitakunai desu ka?) Uhh, don’t you want to look at those bow ties from earlier one more time?

Without enthusiasm, he picks a tie at random and heads for the checkout.

じゃあ、これにします。 (Jaa, kore ni shimasu.) I’ll take this one, then.

3. Using ～てほしい (te hoshii) with verbs: I want you to sell me this necktie

Japanese simply adds that ～ほしい from before to the end of a て (te) form verb to express the idea of “wanting someone to do something for you.”

This is useful because it means we don't need to make the sentence structure more complex by adding a conjunction like “for” and we can also keep using the same conjugations we learned earlier. Again, there are only three steps.

1. Choose a verb. Any verb.

2. Change that verb to its て form .

3. Attach ～ほしい directly to the end of the verb’s て form.

You can check your understanding of this over at JLPTsensei .

Here are some examples:

売る (uru) — to sell: 売る → 売って (utte) → 売ってほしい (utte hoshii) — I want you to sell…

飲む (nomu) — to drink: 飲む → 飲んで (nonde) → 飲んでほしい (nonde hoshii) — I want you to drink…

辞める (yameru) — to quit/resign: 辞める → 辞めて (yamete) → 辞めてほしい (yamete hoshii) — I want you to quit…

Back at the store, the disheartened salaryman approaches a checkout counter and, looking up, sees that the cashier is wearing a remarkable tie. He exclaims:

うわ！そのネクタイ、売ってほしいです！売ってください！ (Uwa! Sono nekutai, utte hoshii desu! Utte kudasai!) Wow! I want you to sell me that necktie! Please sell it to me!

You might observe that the phrases “I want you to (do something)” and “please (do something)” sound fairly similar. Saying “please” might be a bit more straightforward, but aside from that, these forms are largely interchangeable.

So, having been requested to sell the tie that is part of his uniform, the cashier might reply:

怒らないで聞いてほしいのですが、このネクタイは非売品です。 (Okoranaide kiite hoshii no desu ga, kono nekutai wa hibaihin desu.) Please listen and don't be upset, but this necktie is not for sale.

The salaryman, frantic, jumps over the counter and tries to snatch the tie from the cashier's neck. They struggle for a few minutes before security comes to handle the situation. Breathing heavily and frustrated, the cashier might rudely shout:

この店に二度と来てほしくないです！ (Kono mise ni nidoto kite hoshikunai desu!) I don’t want you to ever come back to this store!

4. ～たがる (tagaru) with verbs: He wanted to kill me!

Regrettably, it's a bit harder to discuss what other people want to do in Japanese. This is because Japanese uses markers to indicate evidentiality or to explain how a particular piece of information was obtained. This usually requires grammar that is more advanced than the ～たい form itself and there are several methods to handle it, but to keep this article from getting too complex, I'll only discuss one of them.

To express that “someone else wants to do something” you can:

1. Attach a judgment to the end of a ～たい form verb.

2. Substitute the ～たい in a ～たい form verb with ～たがる .

3. Add ～ですか ( desu ka ) to the end of a ～たい form verb to inquire if someone else wants to do something.

If you're interested, ～たがる is actually the standard ～たい form used with the suffix ～がる ( garu ). The suffix ～がる conveys the sense of “appearing” or “displaying signs of,” so ～たがる really means something like “displaying signs of wanting to do something.”

Despite that, it's fine to consider this form as meaning “[someone else] wants to do something.” For example:

殺す (korosu) — to kill: 殺す → 殺します (koroshimasu) → 殺したい (koroshitai) → 殺したがる (koroshitagaru) — (He) wants to kill…

～たがる conjugates like type one (う [u]) verbs such as 怒る (okoru) — to be angry or 走る (hashiru) — to run. It's frequently used in the ている (teiru) form.

Here are some basic formal conjugations of this:

Present positive: 殺したがっています (koroshitagatteimasu) ― (He) wants to kill…

Present negative: 殺したがっていません (koroshitagatteimasen) ― (He) doesn’t want to kill…

Past positive: 殺したがっていました (koroshitagatteimashita) ― (He) wanted to kill…

Past negative: 殺したがっていませんでした (koroshitagatteimasen deshita) ― (He) didn’t want to kill…

And here are the casual versions (the meanings are the same; only the level of formality changes here):

Present positive: 殺したがっている (koroshitagatteiru)

Present negative: 殺したがっていない (koroshitagatteinai)

Past positive: 殺したがっていた (koroshitagatteita)

Past negative: 殺したがっていなかった (koroshitagatteinakatta)

Let's imagine the store manager comes out to scold the cashier for not showing the customer the respect warranted by his position. After all, the customer is always right. Flustered, the cashier answers:

だ…だ…だけど、お客さんは私を殺したがっていました！ (Da… da… dakedo, okyaku san wa watashi o koroshitagatteimashita!) B..bu..but, the customer wanted to kill me!

To which the manager replies,

そんなことがある訳ないでしょう。お客さんは、ただあなたのネクタイを触りたがっていただけでしたよ。 (Sonna koto ga aru wake nai deshou. Okyaku san wa, tada anata no nekutai o sawaritagatteita dake deshita yo.) That's unbelievable. All he wanted was to touch your tie!

After a reply like that, it might be fair to say that the cashier is 仕事を辞めたがっています (shigoto o yametagatteimasu) — wanting to quit his job!

As demonstrated in this post with the necktie buying example, observing the language in use can help you grasp how native speakers employ it. For instance, you could use the Lingflix program to watch a variety of Japanese media, such as news segments and motivational videos. Lingflix takes real videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news, and inspiring talks—and converts them into personalized language learning lessons. You can try Lingflix for free for 2 weeks. Visit the website or download the iOS app or Android app. P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)

While expressing desire in Japanese might be somewhat more complex than in English, the different methods to say “I want” in Japanese are also very clearly defined.

With some practice, it will become second nature sooner than you think!