したい

Want to do

Readings

Other forms

したいです polite

したくない negative

したかった past

したくありません polite negative

I-adjective (conjugates like one)

Want to do

Indicates the speaker’s personal desire to perform an action.

Good to know

したい means want to do and attaches to the ます-stem of a verb, as in 食べたい（たべたい） “want to eat” or 行きたい（いきたい） “want to go.”

Even though it talks about an action, したい behaves like an い-adjective. Its negative form is したくない, meaning don’t want to do.

With an object, both が and を can appear: • が highlights the thing you want, as in 水が飲みたい（みずがのみたい） • を puts more focus on doing the action, as in 水を飲みたい（みずをのみたい）

Use したい mainly for your own wants. For someone else’s desire, use 〜たがっている, meaning seems to want to do or is showing that they want to do. This is because you cannot directly know another person’s inner feelings.

Example

週末は友達とテニスがしたいです。

I want to play tennis with my friends this weekend.

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したい

Want to do

Example

この言葉を覚えましょう。

Let's memorize this word.

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