Wanting Something: ほしい
Your wants and feelings are different from those of your friends’. Meaning, in Japanese, “I want a plushy” and “He wants a plushy” are grammatically different. Also unlike English, how to phrase “want” is also grammatically different depending on whether you are saying you want a physical item, want to do something, or want someone to do something for you.
In this lesson, we will first learn how to express want for a physical entity and how to express that you want someone to do something for you. In both instances, we will be using the word 欲しい.
欲しい: Wanting Something
When showing first-person “want for something,” we use the adjective 欲しい, which can be literally interpreted as “X is desirable.” Below are its basic conjugations for reference, but rest assured, it conjugates like any other adjective.
| Plain Speech | Polite Speech | |
| Plain Speech | ほしい | ほしいです |
| Negative | ほしくない | ほしくありません ほしくないです |
| Past | ほしかった | ほしかったです |
| Negative Past | ほしくなかった | ほしくありませんでした ほしくないです |
| て Form | ほしくて | ← |
Because 欲しい is an adjective, what would be the object which one wants is actually marked by the particle が. For reasons discussed in our next lesson, it is logically sound to still view what が is marking here as the object of its clause.
1. 新しいプリンターがほしいです。
I want a new printer.
2. このCDはどうしてもほしいから、買ってくれない？
I want this CD no matter what, so could you buy it for me?
3. もっと自由が欲しい。
I want more freedom.
However, it is important to distinguish when が is actually simply being used as the subject marker as seen in Ex. 4.
4. 自分は子供が欲しくないけど、夫が欲しいからという理由で出産した女性もいるでしょう。
I’m sure there are also women who have given birth because their husband wanted children even though they themselves did not want kids.
On seldom occasion, there is a new tendency in very casual speech to allow for を to mark the object of 欲しい despite it clearly being an adjective. This is most common in short, simple statements, as any complexity to the sentence usually triggers the same speakers who would use this altered grammar to revert back to using が to mark the object.
5. 無条件の愛｛が◎・を△｝ほしい。
I want unconditional love.
Do not confuse instances of を happening to be next to ほしい for other reasons. In Ex. 6, ほしい is part of a quotation, and this cited quotation clause is part of a different argument (part of the sentence) than ほしいもの.
6. ほしいものをほしいと言えないのはなぜだろう？
Why is it that I can’t say “I want” for what I want.
It is actually far more common in casual speech to drop the object marker entirely before 欲しい.
7. ジュースほしいの？
You wanna soft drink?
8. これ欲しい人？
Who wants this?
Although ほしい is characterized as being used primarily in first person, there are two scenarios in which it may be paired with second person.
①When used in a question or any grammar point that suggests the predicate is probably true.
②When used in a conditional statement, which is subsequently based on the speaker’s judgment of the situation.
9. この本、ほしいでしょう？
You want this book, right?
10. 僕の合鍵がほしかったら、あげるよ。
If you want my spare key, I’ll give it to you.
11. どのぬいぐるみがほしいの？
Which stuffed animal do you want?
～てほしい: Wanting Something Done by…
～てほしい shows that you “want something done/to happen,” and it must always be paired with a verbal predicate, whether that be an intransitive verb, a transitive verb, or the copula.
The person you want to do the action for you – the agent – is marked by the particle に. Whenever said agent is not mentioned, it is very likely the listener.
12. 彼女にきれいでいてほしい。
I want her to stay beautiful.
13. 毎日チャレンジしてほしい。
I would like for you to challenge yourselves every day.
14. 日本語を教えてほしいです。
I want you to teach me Japanese.
15. 私に何をしてほしいですか。
What do you want me to do?
16. （僕に）山田さんと話してほしいんですか。
Do you want me to talk with Mr. Yamada?
17. 何かアドバイスしてほしいのですが…
We’d like you to give us some sort of advice, but…
18. 報告書は今度はもうすこし早く出してほしいのよ。聞いてる? (Feminine)
I want you to turn in your report a little earlier next time, you hear?
19. 将来の彼氏にプロポーズしてほしいよ！
I want my future boyfriend to propose to me!
～てほしいと思う
In showing someone’s wish for something to come true, ほしい is followed by ～と思う in first person or ～と思っている in first or third person.
20. 親は私に大学へ行ってほしいと思っています。
My parents are wishing for me to go to college.
21. 復活してほしいと思う。
I wish for (the place/them) to revive.
～てほしかった
When ほしい is in the past tense, it shows regret that something did not happen.
22. 彼氏にだけは分かってほしかった。
I only wanted my boyfriend to understand.
23. もっと早く来てほしかった。
I wanted you to have come earlier.
～ないでほしい vs ～てほしくない
For the negative renditions of ～てほしい, there are two options:
①～ないでほしい: Explicitly requests that the listener not do something.
②～てほしくない: Merely states that you do not want for something to occur (intransitive predicates) or be done (transitive predicates).
24. 政治家にならないでほしい。
I want you to not become a politician.
25. 誰にもできたと知らせないでほしい。
I want you to not inform anyone that I was able to do it.
26. 雨が降ってほしくないと思う日は、意外と晴れることが多い。
On days that I wish for it not to rain, surprisingly, it is often sunny.
27. 家族がいることを忘れてほしくないわ。(Feminine)
I don’t want you to forget that you have a family.