(no subject)

[kittydesade]

Expressing desire, using verb stem + ～たい and　～たがる

Speaker's desire:
私は　コーヒーがを　飲みたいです。
I want to drink coffee.

私は　来年　日本に　行きたいです。
I want to go to Japan next year.

Someone else's desire:
山田さんは　新しい車を　買いたがっています。
Yamada-san wants to buy a new car.


山本：　どうしたんですか。　あまり　食べませんね。
What's the matter? You are not eating much.
アリス：　食べたいんですが、　はが　いたくて、　食べられないんです。
I want to eat, but I have a toothache, so I cannot eat.
山本：　そうですか。　それは　こまりましたね。
Is that so? That's an annoyance.


* Want to do~ is expressed by verb stem + たいです　and verb stem + たがっています　. The first form is used when the speaker is referring to himself or herself or to the listener in a question. The second form is used when the speaker is referring to a third person. たがっています literally means is showing the sign of wanting to do X. This distinction is based on the notion that in Japanese one does not presume to know what another person wants or desires.

* Instead of たがっています, endings such as 　そうです can be used with　たい　so as to express a third person's desire because tehse endings merely convey the speaker's knowledge, not a presumption, about another person's desire.

ジョンソンさんは　日本に　行きたいそうです。　
I heard that Johnson-san wants to go to Japan.

* Verb stem + たいです　is conjugated like an い-adjective. 　食べたいー食べたくありませんー食べたかったですー食べたくありませんでした... and so on.

* With ~たいです, the direct object marker　を can be replaced with　が. Other particles remain unchanged. With ~たがっています, however, use　を to indicate the direct object.

私は　ごはんを　食べたいです。
I want to eat a meal.

私は　ごはんが　食べたいです。
I want to eat a meal.

私は　ここに　いたいです。
I want to stay here.

田中さんは　ごはんを　食べたがっています。
Tanaka-san wants to eat a meal.

It is considered impolite to use ~たいですか to one's superior to find out whether he/she wants to do something. Use 　ますか　or ませんか instead.

ごはんを食べますか
(lit. Will you eat a meal?)

ごはんを食べませんか　　　
(lit. won't you eat a meal?


Oof. Now that I'm home and almost everything I needed to do today has been done, I'm having a serious case of the don' wannas. Blah.

On the other hand and the plus side and all of that, I suppose it's a good thing that I actually did do all of the stuff, or at least most of the stuff, that I needed to. I got my work done, I got exercise in, I got all my languages done, dinner, some knitting, and as soon as I get some guitar done there will be writing and editing and finishing and then turning in. Oogh. Not looking forward to the finishing and turning in part. Did I mention how much I hate editing and rewriting? I do. I got into the very bad habit of not doing any of it for the longest time, in part because I was scared that if I showed my writing to anyone I thought it would magically make it not be good anymore.

Seriously, editing is your friend, folks. No matter how onerous, annoying, or terrifying it is. Sometimes, that really didn't need to be there. Or something really was missing. One or the other.

Oof. Something else I don't want to do but should probably start thinking about: making sentences for review both for Japanese and German. Blahhhh. Double blah. Triple blah. Sigh and blah. Blah with a side of ugh. Blah blah meh and blah. Shaken, not stirred.

Okay, I need a nap or something.