～たい

The auxiliary ～たい is attached to the stem of verbs to express the speaker's desire to perform an action. It is equivalent to saying "want to [verb]" in English.

Conjugation

The ～たい form conjugates like an い-adjective:

• Positive:
  いきたいです行きたいです。

  I want to go.
• Negative:
  いきたくないです行きたくないです。

  I don’t want to go.
• Past:
  いきたかったです行きたかったです。

  I wanted to go.
• Negative Past:
  いきたくなかったです行きたくなかったです。

  I didn’t want to go.

を vs. が

With ～たい, the object can be marked with を or が.

• が (sounds more natural) → This pairs with the ～たい suffix (as い-adjectives don't take an object) and implies a stronger focus on the desire.
• を → This pairs with the verb stem (as it is still a verb and can take an object) and draws attention to the action.

Desires of other people

The ～たい form is used exclusively to express the speaker's own desires or to ask about the listener's desires. It is not used to describe someone else's desires, as this would imply you can directly know their feelings.

Instead, Japanese uses indirect expressions.

～たがる is used to describe observable desire in others (their behavior, attitude).

Structure: V[stem] + たがる

This describes how it appears, not a direct statement of desire.

～たいと言う — another common way is to quote what the person said.

This is neutral and safe because it reports speech.

Asking about someone’s desire

You can ask politely about another person’s wishes.

Inviting and suggesting

～たいですか is often used to invite or suggest an activity.