~tai – “Wish to” or “Want to”
In my previous lesson, we learned about “hoshii” which means “Want”. “~tai” has a similar meaning but it uses in conjunction with verbs. In other word, it uses as “Want to do something”. The following examples will show you the different usage of “hoshii” and “~tai”.
Usage of “hoshii”
Q : Do you want a new shoe? – Atarashii kutsu ga hoshii desu ka?
A : Yes, I want a new shoe – Hai, Atarashii kutsu ga hoshii desu.
Usage of “~tai”
Q : Do you want / wish to buy a new shoe? – Atarashii kutsu ga/o (kau)kaitai desu ka?
A : Yes, I want / wish to buy a new shoe – Hai, atarashii kutsu ga/o kaitai desu
Can you see the difference? “~tai” is use in conjunction with “kau (buy)” which equaivalent to “kaitai (wish to buy)”. When using “~tai”, you can either use “ga” or “o” for the noun.
Other examples
Want / Wish to drink coffee – Ko-hi- ga/o (nomu)nomitai desu.
Want / Wish to eat cake – Ke-ki ga/o (taberu)tabetai desu.
Want / Wish to watch western movie – Eiga ga/o (miru)mitai desu
Meaning : Kutsu (Shoe), Eiga (Western Movie)
Enjoy today’s lesson ……
June 25th, 2010 at 10:05 am
Hi Tony,
If the answer for the question “Atarashii kutsu ga/o kaitai desu ka?” was negative could it be “Iie, atarashii kutsu wa/o kaitai dewa arimasen.”?
June 25th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Hi, it should be “atarashii kutsu wa kaitaku arimasen”