Japanese Grammar In Its Natural Habitat
Wild Nihongo!
~てほしい / ~てもらいたい / ~ていただく

~てほしい / ~てもらいたい / ~ていただく

~てほしい / ~てもらいたい / ~ていただく Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Auxiliary Adjective

Essential Meaning: Person X wants Person Y to do Z

Construction: 

  • Verb て-Form + 欲ほしい
    • E.g. 話はなして欲ほしい [I want X to speak]
    • E.g. 食たべて欲ほしい [I want X to eat]

Notes:

  • てほしい (て欲ほしい in kanji) is used to express that the speaker wants someone to do something. Like the regular adjective 欲ほしい, て欲ほしい typically marks first person subjects (i.e. the subject describes his or her OWN wants). It can also be used with second person subjects in interrogative sentence (i.e. the subject asks a second person about his or her wants). However, with a third person subject (i.e. a 3rd person wants someone to do something), てもらいたがっている should be used instead. This is a combination of the auxiliary verbs てもらう and がる as well as the auxiliary adjective ~たい.
    • E.g. First Person Subject: 私わたしは子供こどもたちに私わたしと一緒いっしょに住すんで欲ほしい。[I want the children to to live together with me.]
    • E.g. Second Person Subject: あなたはだれに来きて欲ほしいですか。[Who do you want to come?]
    • E.g. Third Person Subject: アダムさんはフランシスにこの仕事しごとをしてもらいたがっている。[Adam wants Francis to do this job.]
  • With て欲ほしい, the experiencer wants person X to do something. Person X is marked by the particle に.
    • E.g. あなたはだれに来きて欲ほしいですか。[Who do you want to come?]
  • てもらいたい essentially means the same thing as て欲ほしい. The differences are that (1) てもらいたい involves the subject wanting someone to do something as a favor. て欲ほしい has no such connotation. (2) てもらいたい can be used when the subject wants someone of a higher status (e.g. a boss) to do something. In such cases, the humble form ていただく should be used. And as mentioned above, the auxiliary verb がる is affixed when the subject is a 3rd person.
    • E.g. 私わたしはあなたに英語えいごを教おしえてもらいたい。[I want you to teach me English.]
    • E.g. 私わたしは吉田よしだ先生せんせいに来きていただきたい。[I would like Professor Yoshida to come.]
    • E.g. アダムさんはフランシスにこの仕事しごとをしてもらいたがっている。[Adam wants Francis to do this job.]

Example Sentences:

私わたしはあなたに英語えいごを教おしえて欲ほしい。[I want you to teach me English.]

私わたしはこどもたちに私わたしと一緒いっしょに住すんで欲ほしい。[I want the children to come live with me.]

あなたはだれにきて欲ほしいですか。[Who do you want to come?]

WILD Examples:

At 0:42, listen for this line: Oh, I just want to make you happy, お~もう, 笑わらってほしい [Oh, I just want to make you happy, Oh I just want you to laugh for me]

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