Unit 5 – 041 to 050

私は走ります。・わたし は はしります。・wa·ta·shi wa ha·shi·ri·ma·su。 = I run.
→ 私は走りたいです。・わたし は はしりたい です。・wa·ta·shi wa ha·shi·ri·ta·i de·su。 = I want to run.
この本を読みます。・この ほん を よみます。・ko·no ho·n wo yo·mi·ma·su。 = (I) read this book.
→ この本が読みたいです。・この ほん が よみたい です。・ko·no ho·n ga yo·mi·ta·i de·su。 = (I) want to read this book.

To say that you don’t want to do something, replace -ます・-ma·su at the end of a verb with -たくない です・-ta·ku·na·i de·su:

私は走ります。・わたし は はしります。・wa·ta·shi wa ha·shi·ri·ma·su。 = I run.
→ 私は走りたくないです。・わたし は はしりたくない です。・wa·ta·shi wa ha·shi·ri·ta·ku·na·i de·su。 = I don’t want to run.
この本を読みます。・この ほん を よみます。・ko·no ho·n wo yo·mi·ma·su。 = (I) read this book.
→ この本が読みたくないです。・この ほん が よみたくない です。・ko·no ho·n ga yo·mi·ta·ku·na·i de·su。 = (I) don’t want to read this book.

To talk about past wants, replace the -い・-i at the end of -たい・-tai (or -たくない・-takunai) with -かった・-katta:

私は走ります。・わたし は はしります。・wa·ta·shi wa ha·shi·ri·ma·su。 = I run.
→ 私は走りたかったです。・わたし は はしりたかった です。・wa·ta·shi wa ha·shi·ri·ta·ka·tta de·su。 = I wanted to run.
この本を読みます。・この ほん を よみます。・ko·no ho·n wo yo·mi·ma·su。 = (I) read this book.
→ この本が読みたくなかったです。・この ほん が よみたくなかった です。・ko·no ho·n ga yo·mi·ta·ku·na·ka·tta de·su。 = (I) didn’t want to read this book.

This -たい です・-ta·i form of verbs should only be used to talk about your own wants. It’s OK to use it to talk about other people’s wants in informal conversation, but a different (respectful) construction is used in more formal situations. Also, to talk about wanting someone else to do something, we use yet another construction – we’ll look at this later on.

To talk about simply wanting an item (rather than wanting to do something), we use the adjective 欲しい・ほしい・ho·shi·i = desirous. We use this in much the same way that we use 好き・すき・su·ki.

この本が好きです。・この ほん が すき です。・ko·no ho·n ga su·ki de·su。　= I like this book.
この本が欲しいです。・この ほん が ほしい です。・ko·no ho·n ga ho·shi·i de·su。　= I want this book.

Be careful, though: 欲しい・ほしい・ho·shi·i is an -い・-i adjective, so it should be conjugated (its ending should be changed) to say “don’t want,” “wanted,” or “didn’t want.”

この本が欲しくないです。・この ほん が ほしくない です。・ko·no ho·n ga ho·shi·ku·na·i de·su。　= I don’t want this book.
この本が欲しかったです。・この ほん が ほしかった です。・ko·no ho·n ga ho·shi·ka·tta de·su。　= I wanted this book.
この本が欲しくなかったです。・この ほん が ほしくなかった です。・ko·no ho·n ga ho·shi·ku·na·ka·tta de·su。　= I didn’t want this book.

When directly joined to a noun, an -い・-i adjective is simply placed before the noun. Here are some examples.

赤い車・あかい くるま・a·ka·i ku·ru·ma = a red car
高い洋服・たかい ようふく・ta·ka·i yō·fu·ku = expensive clothes
昨日、つまらない本を読みました。・きのう、つまらない ほん を よみました。・ki·nō、tsu·ma·ra·na·i ho·n wo yo·mi·ma·shi·ta。 = Yesterday, I read a boring book.

However, when a noun and an -い・-i adjective are joined indirectly, the -い・-i adjective changes. In the following examples, we’ll use the -い・-i adjective 面白い・おもしろい・o·mo·shi·ro·i = interesting.

この映画は面白いです。・この えいが は おもしろい です。・ko·no e·i·ga wa o·mo·shi·ro·i de·su。 = This movie is interesting.

In this case, the situation is in the present and positive, so we don’t need to change the -い・-i adjective at all. However, if the situation is negative, we change the -い・-i at the end of the adjective to -くない・-ku·na·i:

この映画は面白くないです。・この えいが は おもしろくない です。・ko·no e·i·ga wa o·mo·shi·ro·ku·na·i de·su。 = This movie is not interesting.

If the situation is in the past, we change the -い・-i at the end of the adjective to -かった・-ka·tta:

この映画は面白かったです。・この えいが は おもしろかった です。・ko·no e·i·ga wa o·mo·shi·ro·ka·tta de·su。 = This movie was interesting.

If the situation is in the past and negative, we change the -い・-i at the end of the adjective to -くなかった・-ku·na·ka·tta:

この映画は面白くなかったです。・この えいが は おもしろくなかった です。・ko·no e·i·ga wa o·mo·shi·ro·ku·na·ka·tta de·su。 = This movie was not interesting.

(The -い・-i at the end of the adjective becomes -くない・-ku·na·i, and then the -い・-i at the end of -くない・ku·na·i becomes -かった・-ka·tta giving the overall change from -い・-i to -くなかった・-ku·na·ka·tta.)

Note that we do not change the verb: です・de·su stays as です・de·su. The idea of conjugating (= changing the endings of) adjectives will be familiar to anyone who has studied French or similar languages. In such languages, the adjectives change according to the number and gender of the nouns being described. The idea of conjugating the adjective (but NOT the verb) according to whether the situation is present, past, positive, or negative can be quite a conceptual challenge, especially for native speakers of English because in English, adjectives are not conjugated at all.

The best way to master conjugating -い・-i adjectives is to practice by coming up with your own sentences. Try writing sentences in which the adjective and the noun are joined directly and others in which they are joined indirectly. Also, try writing sentences which describe situations in the present and others that describe situations in the past. Finally, try writing sentences which describe positive situations and others that describe negative ones.

Experts on languages use categories like “nouns,” “adjectives,” and “verbs” to help language learners to understand the roles of words in sentences, but the truth is that often these categories are not 100% accurate. Japanese -い・-i adjectives behave in a similar way to the plain forms of verbs. On the other hand, -な・-na adjectives (and we’ll look at these later) share common features with nouns.