～たい

～たい is how you say that you want to do something in Japanese. It is made by taking the ます-stem of a verb (the part before ます) and adding たい: 飲みます becomes 飲みたい, “want to drink”.

For English speakers it maps directly to “I want to ...”. One important point: ～たい expresses the speaker's own desire, or asks about the listener's. To describe what someone else wants, Japanese normally switches to ～たがる, which describes an outward sign that the person wants to do something. Japanese generally avoids making firm statements about another person's feelings.

1. Saying what you want to do

Attach たい to the verb stem. Because the sentence now describes a feeling, the thing you want is often marked with が instead of を, both particles are possible.

2. ～たい changes like an い-adjective

Once you add たい, the word behaves like an い-adjective, not a verb. The negative is ～たくない (don't want to) and the past is ～たかった (wanted to).

How to form it

Verb ます-stem + たい

• 飲む（のむ）= to drink → 飲みたい（のみたい）= want to drink
• 食べる（たべる）= to eat → 食べたい（たべたい）= want to eat
• 行く（いく）= to go → 行きたい（いきたい）= want to go

Key idea

～たい turns a verb into an い-adjective that describes your own desire: “I want to do X.” Keep it for yourself (or questions to the listener). To report what another person seems to want, use ～たがる instead.