Minna no Nihongo 20: Watashi wa Tomodachi ga Hoshii desu

Hi, ojachan is here 🙂 Today’s lesson is:【第13課】 Lesson 13. Watashi wa Tomodachi ga Hoshii desu

Don’t you want to know how to learn Japanese like Japanese kids? This lesson is meant for students that are beginners at Japanese.

⭐️This lesson is following the textbook “Minna no Nihongo”. (*not perfectly)

⭐️I’m going to give a lesson easier to understand for Japanese learners without following textbook’s orders.

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Let’s learn how to say “want” in a sentence today.

I’m going to describe the detail because the usage of the grammar and parts of speech of “Want” in Japanese are quite different from English.

Let’s get started!

CONTENTS

■ Basic Patterned Sentences

１. わたしは　Nが　欲しいです。

Though “want” is a verb in English, it is an i-adjective in Japanese.

When we want to say “ I want sth / sb” in Japanese, we use “欲しい”.

However, it is limited to the person used for the subject by an affirmative sentence, a negative sentence, or an interrogative sentence.

sentence	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
Affirmative	○	×	×
Negative	○	×	×
Interrogative	×	○	○

■ Affirmative Sentence

わたしは　日本人の　友達が　欲しいです。
watashi wa nihonjin no tomodachi ga hoshii desu
I want Japanese friends.

If you use this sentence pattern in affirmative sentence with the 2nd and 3rd person, it’s a bit strange expression for us.

Be careful because the subject always becomes “watashi” in this sentence pattern.

■ Negative Sentence

わたしは　日本人の　友達は　欲しくありません。
watashi wa nihonjin no tomodachi ga hoshikuarimasen
I don’t want any Japanese friends.

Have you noticed the particle wa in “友達は”?

This は can distinguish the others.

You can learn the detail of the difference between wa and ga in this article.

Minna no Nihongo 18: Watashi wa Anata ga Sukidesu

■ Interrogative Sentence

あなたは　日本人の　友達が　欲しいですか。
anata wa nihonjin no tomodachi ga hoshii desuka
Do you want Japanese friends?

はい、欲しいです。
hai hoshii desu
Yes, I do.

いいえ、欲しくありません。
iie hoshikuarimasen
No, I don’t.

you can use the 2nd person and the 3rd person in a negative sentence and an interrogative sentence.

■ Use the 3rd Person in an Affirmative Sentence

As mentioned previously, you can’t use the 3rd person in an affirmative sentence.

For example :

Henry wants to have Japanese friends.
ヘンリーは　日本人の　友達が　欲しいです。

If you translate English into Japanese directly, it becomes the impression that you labeled the intention of Henry. It’s not wrong grammatically but it sounds a bit strange for us.

If you want to use “欲しい” with the 3rd person, you can use it with “Jodoushi (an auxiliary verb) ” following “欲しい”.

中村さんは　アメリカ人の友達が　欲しい　そうです。
nakamura san wa amerikajin no tomodachi ga hoshii soudesu
I heard that Nakamura wanted to have British friends.

中村さんは　イギリス人の　友達が　欲しい　みたいです。
nakamura san wa igirisujin no tomodachi ga hoshii mitai desu
Nakamura seems to want to have British friends.

中村さんは　オーストラリア人の　友達が　欲しい　ようです。
nakamura san wa oostrariajin no tomodachi ga hoshii you desu
Nakamura seems to want to have Australian friends.

中村さんは　カナダ人の　友達が　欲しい　らしいです。
nakamura san wa kanadajin no tomodachi ga hoshii rashii desu
I’ve heard that N wakamura ants to have Canadian friends.

Read “the usage of ga” if you want to know the reason why it’s “友達が”.

Minna no Nihongo 18: Watashi wa Anata ga Sukidesu

2. V (masu-form) +たいです。

You can express “ I want to do (sth).” in Japanese by using “V (masu-form) + たいです”.

わたしは　日本へ　行きたいです。
watashi wa nihon e iki taidesu
I want to go to Japan.

わたしは　自分の　国に　帰りたくありません。
watashi wa jibun no kuni ni kaeri takuarimasen
I don’t want to go back to my home country.

あなたは　日本に　住みたいですか。
anata wa nihon ni sumi taidesuka
Do you want to live in Japan?

Words of Verb masu-form

I’m going to introduce to you Verbs with masu – form.

There are 6 steps of verb conjugation but let’s learn them step by step.

Take it easy!

jisho – form	masu-form	English
遊ぶ asobu	遊び aobisto	have a good time
泳ぐ oyogu	泳ぎ oyogito	to swim
迎える mukaeru	迎え mukae	to welcome
疲れる tsukareru	疲れ tsukare	to get tired
結婚する kekkonsuru	結婚し kekkonshi	to get married
買い物する kaimonosuru	買い物し kaimonoshi	to go shopping
食事する shokujisuru	食事し shokujishi	to eat (formal)
散歩する sanposuru	散歩し sanposhi	to take a walk

Indefinite Pronoun Words

You can use these expression if you don’t know what you want particularly.

It is called “不定代名詞 Futeidaimeishi Indefinite pronoun” in Japanese.

■ In an Affirmative and an Interrogative Sentence

わたしは　何か　食べ　たいです。
watashi wa nanika tabe taidesu
I want eat something.

どこかで　何か　食べ　たいですか。
dokoka de nanika tabe taidesuka
Do you want to eat anything anywhere?

language	things	person	place	time
日本語	何か	誰か	どこか	いつか
pronunciation	nanika	dareka	dokoka	itsuka
English	something anything	someone anyone	somewhere anywhere	sometime someday

■ In a Negative Sentence

わたしは　何も　食べ　たくありません。
watashi wa nanimo tabe takuarimasen
I don’t want eat anything.

language	things	person	place	time
日本語	何も～ありません	誰も～いません	どこも～ません	いつも～ません
pronunciation	nanimo~arimasen	daremo~imasen	dokomo~masen	itusmo~masen
English	nothing	nobody	not ~ every (place)	not always ~

■ When You Want to Use “every”

わたしは　何でも　食べ　たいです。
watashi wa nandemo tabe taidesu
I want eat anything.

language	things	person	place	time
日本語	何でも	誰でも	どこでも	いつでも
pronunciation	nandemo	daredemo	dokodemo	itsudemo
English	anything / everything	anyone everyone whoever	anywhere everywhere wherever	anytime always whenever

Let’s Practice

Choose the best Japanese answer and check the box below!

① I want Japanese a girlfriend. わたしは　日本人の　彼女が　欲しいです。わたしは　日本人の　彼女が　たいです。わたしは　日本人の　彼女を　望みます。

② I don’t want any clothes. わたしは　何も　服は　欲しくありません。わたしは　何も　服が　欲しくありません。わたしは　何も　服を　欲しくありません。

③ Nakamura seems to want to have something to drink. 中村さんは　何か　飲み物が　欲しい　みたいです。中村さんは　何も　飲み物が　欲しい　みたいです。中村さんは　何でも　飲み物が　欲しい　みたいです。

④ I’ve heard that Henry wants to go to Japan. ヘンリーは　日本へ　行く　欲しい　そうです。ヘンリーは　日本へ　行き　たい　らしいです。ヘンリーは　日本へ　行き　たい　そうです。

⑤ Do you want to go anywhere someday? 何か　誰かに　行き　たいですか。いつか　どこにも　行き　たいですか。いつか　どこかに　行き　たいですか。