I want to — たい

A window and a garden. 行きたいです is already a plan’s first half.

In this lesson you will

• Build たいです from a ます-form you already know
• Say 行きたいです, 食べたいです, 見たいです in a polite voice
• Negate with たくないです when you do not want to

Today’s scene

How it works

Drop ます, add たい, close with です. 食べます → 食べたいです. 行きます → 行きたいです. 見ます → 見たいです. します → したいです. 来ます → 来たいです. The stem you already use for ます is the stem たい wants.

たい is grammatically an い-adjective ending. Negative: 行きたくないです. 食べたくないです. You may hear たくありません. たくないです is the one to produce at a table.

The object of a たい verb often still takes を: パンを食べたいです。写真を撮りたいです。 You will also hear が with たい (ラーメンが食べたいです). Both appear. This week, を is a safe default with action verbs. Do not confuse this with 好き, which wants が and is not たい.

Use たい for your own wants. Asking 何が食べたいですか is fine toward a friend or a guest you are hosting. Announcing 田中さんは行きたいです as a cold fact about someone else is clumsy. Other people’s wants are their sentences, or a different grammar later.

たい turns a verb you can already say in ます into a want. The assembly is mechanical: remove ます, attach たい, close with です. 見ます → 見たいです. If you can say the ます-form, you can say the want. That is the good news. The bad news is that English “want” also covers wanting a noun — I want coffee — and Japanese splits that. Wanting a thing as possession or desire-for-an-object is often がほしいです, which is not this lesson. This lesson is wanting to do: go, eat, see, take, rest, study.

Because たい behaves like an い-adjective, it takes です, not ます. 行きたいです is complete polite speech. 行きたいます is a beginner invention, a seatbelt on top of a seatbelt. Negative follows the い-adjective rule you already used on 高い: drop い, add くないです. たい → たくないです. 食べたくないです. Do not say たいじゃないです as your default. That pattern belongs more to な-adjectives and nouns.

Particles: destination still に or へ. 公園に行きたいです. Object of eating, drinking, taking, reading — を is the default we will produce. パンを食べたいです. 水を飲みたいです. 写真を撮りたいです. You will hear が食べたい. It is not a crime. It highlights the item as the thing wanted. Do not let that が leak into 好き practice backwards, and do not let 好き’s が convince you that を is wrong on たい. Two structures. Two lessons.

Social limit: たいです is first-person in spirit. You can ask a peer 行きたいですか. You can ask a guest you are hosting 何を食べたいですか. You should not narrate a stranger’s inner life: この人は帰りたいです. You also should not use たいです as a polite command. 食べたいです does not mean “eat, please”. That was てください. If you want the staff to write, 書いてください. If you want to write, 書きたいです. Direction of will matters more than students think.

A hotel or guesthouse day is built of たい: 休みたいです, お風呂に入りたいです, 切符を買いたいです, 現金を下ろしたいです, 写真を撮りたいです. You do not need all of those verbs this hour. You need the frame. New verb? Put it in ます first, then たい.

Pronunciation: たい is ta-i, two beats, not English “tie” as a single glide if that swallows た. 行きたい is i-ki-ta-i. 食べたい is ta-be-ta-i. The べ is not English “bay” held long.

Korean speakers: 고 싶다 is a close cousin. Keep Japanese です on the end in this classroom. Chinese speakers: 想 + verb is close; do not drop たい and stick です on a dictionary form. English speakers: “I wanna” is not a model. Spanish speakers: quiero + infinitive maps well onto stem+たい, then still add です.

In the dialogue, Sato asks a plan with 行きますか — a simple future/present polite. Mina answers with たい because the plan is still a want. 見たいです and 撮りたいです stack. そこで食べたいです uses で for the place of eating, which you already met: に for go-to, で for do-at. たい does not erase old particles.

ましょうか appears in Sato’s line 地図を書きましょうか. That is next lesson’s family: an offer. You can receive it now as “shall I write a map?” Answer with お願いします, not with たい unless you mean you want to write it yourself.

Anime たいよ, たいな, 〜たいんだよ belong to a softer or sharper casual room. Not a guesthouse desk. たいです.

Practice: take five ます-verbs from your week — 行きます, 食べます, 見ます, します, 飲みます — and say たいです for each. Then negate two. Then add one place or one object. If したいです feels empty, it is: する needs a noun. 勉強したいです. 予約したいです.

Write one honest line about tomorrow. Not “I want to be fluent”. A place, a food, a photo. Short. Polite. Then stop. ましょう is waiting to turn that want into a we.

Convert the same verb list you used for てください into たいです. 食べたいです, 見たいです, したいです, 来たいです, 行きたいです, 書きたいです, 話したいです, 読みたいです, 飲みたいです, 休みたいです, 撮りたいです, 買いたいです. You are not learning new verbs. You are learning a new hat for old verbs. If ます is missing, たい has nothing to sit on.

ほしいです is the other want, the noun want: 水がほしいです. Different lesson in spirit even if we mention it so you do not jam たい onto a bare noun. 水たいです is not Japanese. 水が飲みたいです or 水がほしいです. Pick a verb or pick ほしい. This week, pick a verb.

Asking other people: 何が食べたいですか is friendly. At a very formal desk, staff may avoid asking your たい and instead offer options with いかがですか. You can still answer with たいです. サンドイッチが食べたいです. The register of the question does not forbid a polite たい answer.

たいですか to a stranger about a heavy topic is nosy. 帰りたいですか to someone who looks miserable may be kind or may be clumsy. Stick to food, places, photos. たい is not therapy.

Negative たくないです can sound strong. Soften with 今日は if you must refuse a plan: 今日は行きたくないです。すみません。 Or use the ちょっと brake from the next lesson in advance. Honesty plus です is still polite. A fake 行きたいです you do not mean will move your feet.

Portuguese and Spanish quiero, French je veux, German ich möchte: all of them will try to sit in front of a noun. Japanese splits do-want and thing-want. Stay on the verb stem. Hindi चाहिए and Arabic bidd- patterns also often take nouns; still add a Japanese verb for this lesson.

たい goes on the stem, not on て. 食べてたいです is a collision of last week and this week. 食べたいです. If you need “I want you to wait”, that is not 待ちたいです (that means you want to wait). That is 待ってください. Direction of will, again.

Practice as a packing list for tomorrow: one place に行きたいです, one food を食べたいです, one thing を見たいです, one 休みたいです. Four lines. Then negate the place if weather is ugly: 行きたくないです. That is a full たい day.

Write たいです with です every time in this series. Apps that drop です are training a roommate voice. You do not have a Japanese roommate at the guesthouse desk. You have Sato and a map.

ます-stem + たいです

食べます → 食べたいです。 I want to eat.
行きます → 行きたいです。 I want to go.
見ます → 見たいです。 I want to see / watch.

Negative want

Drop い of たい → たくないです
行きたくないです。 I don’t want to go.
したくないです。 I don’t want to do it.

Sentences you can use

Close, but not this

OK 行きたいです。
NG 行きたいます。

たい is not a ます-verb. It is an い-type ending. Politeness is です, not a second ます.

OK コーヒーが好きです。
NG コーヒーがしたいです。

好き is like. たい is want-to-do. したいです needs a verb stem (勉強したい). Liking coffee is not コーヒーしたい.

Say it out loud

Next: ましょう and ませんか — let’s, and shall we. たい is your want. ましょう is a shared plan. Do not use たいです to order other people around.

Write one sentence today