안녕하세요? 🤗 Do you want to speak Korean fluently? (한국어를 잘 하고 싶어요?) Then, you should study hard with My Korean Lesson! ☺️ Haha. I just used our goal expression "want to" in Korean. At the end of this lesson, you'll be able to tell your want as well!
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1. V고 싶다 grammar: I want to V.
Meaning & Conjugation
싶다 is a word meaning "want", "hope", "wish", or "desire." This word needs to be used as the expression, "고 싶다."
싶다 is a basic form. It needs to be conjugated to use in daily conversation! You can say 싶어요 in the present tense and 싶었어요 in the past tense.
고 싶다 want to | 예시 example | |
Present Tense | ||
Past Tense |
As I wrote the title "V고 싶다," you can guess. You can attach this expression to a verb stem! But the good news is you don't have to change the form of that verb stem!
The final consonant or vowel doesn't matter with 고! Even with our usual irregular verbs like ㄷ, ㅅ, or ㅂ, you can add 고 to their stems! Watch out where the space in this expression. The space is between 고 and 싶다.
먹다 to eat | I want to eat. | |
마시다 to drink | I want to drink. | |
공부하다 to study | I want to study. | |
만들다 to make | I want to make. | |
듣다 to listen | I want to listen. | |
돕다to help | I want to help. |
As a statement
It shows the speaker's want or hope. You can't say someone else's hope using this ending. So, you can use this to only mean "I want to".
Since it already includes "I" in the expression itself, 나 or 저 are often omitted. You can use the plural pronouns with this expression as well. Take a look at the chart below!
The Korean first-person pronouns
반말 non-polite | 존댓말 polite | |
단수 singular | 나 | 저 |
복수 plural | 우리 | 저희 |
I want to eat. = 저는 밥을 먹고 싶어요. = 밥을 먹고 싶어요.
We want to go. = 저희는 가고 싶어요. = 가고 싶어요.
To talk about someone else's hope, you need to use another expression. You'll learn about it in the next lesson. 😉 Today, focus on saying what you want!
As a question
You can use this expression to ask the listener's want or hope. You can translate it as "Do you want to?" in English.
젠 씨, 뭐 먹고 싶어요? Jen, what do you want to eat?
민지 씨, 어디에 가고 싶어요? Minji, where do you want to go?
If you are asking someone close to your age or similar social status (like similar level and age colleague in work) you can use this 싶어요.
However, when you ask someone way older than you or who has a very higher social status than you, it is not good enough. In this case, please use "싶으세요?" form. This form is an honorific version of "싶어요?" so it is more polite!
Honorific Version | 고 싶다 want to | 예시 example |
Present Tense | ||
Past Tense |
가시다 is an honorific 가다(to go). You'll learn about this honorific form in the future. For now, just to know you need to use 싶으세요 instead of 싶어요 to say very politely. If you want to check it out now, please click here to read my lesson about the honorific word (으)시.
2. Negative Sentence: I don't want to V.
You can attach the negative adverb 안 in front of the "V고" part to make a negative sentence. Make sure to put 안 at the right place.
The present tense | 안 V고 싶어요. | I don't want to V. |
The past tense | 안 V고 싶었어요. | I didn't want to V. |
먹다 to eat
(O) 밥을 안 먹고 싶어요. I don't want to eat.
(X) 안 밥을 먹고 싶어요.
(X) 밥을 먹고 안 싶어요.
마시다 to drink
(O) 커피를 안 마시고 싶어요. I don't want to drink coffee.
공부하다 = 공부를 하다 ] to study
(O) 공부를 안 하고 싶어요. I don't want to study.
(X) 안 공부를 하고 싶어요.
(X) 공부를 하고 안 싶어요.
공부하다 is actually a combination word of a noun 공부 and a verb 하다. So, the real verb part is only 하다. In this case, we need to separate a noun using the object marker and think of it as 공부를 하다.
3. Sentence Information
Special Adjectives
V고 싶다 is attached to a verb stem. It can't be attached with an adjective. However, only a few positive adjectives can be attached to it in idiomatic acceptance. Those are 건강하다 and 행복하다.
건강하다 to be healthy → 건강하고 싶어요. I want to be healthy.
행복하다 to be happy → 행복하고 싶어요. I want to be happy.
Comparison
You've learned "V(으)ㄹ래요" to express your intention. How can "고 싶어요" and "V(으)ㄹ래요" be different? Please check this chart out!
4. Examples
1
저는 하늘을 날고 싶어요. I want to fly in the sky.
"고 싶어요." can be used to express a simple hope and wish. You can say something that possibly can't happen with this ending.
2
(식당에서 In the restaurant)
가: 뭐 먹고 싶어요? What do you want to eat?
나: 저는 햄버거를 먹고 싶어요. I want to eat a hamburger.
You can attach interrogatives like 뭐 (what), 언제 (when), 어디 (where) to ask specific questions. You can replace "고 싶어요" with "을래요" in this situation.
3
(까페에서 In the cafe)
다: 뭐 마실래요? What would you like to drink?
라: 커피를 마시고 싶어요. I want to drink coffee.
Here you can see both expressions. You can mix up as long as you talk about the current, simple hope or intention.
4
마: 빵 먹을래요? Would you like to eat some bread?
바: 아니요, 안 먹고 싶어요. No, I don't want to eat.
안 comes in front of the "verb고" part and makes the negative sentence.
5
자: 어느 나라에서 살고 싶어요? Which country do you want to live in?
차: 한국에서 살고 싶어요. I want to live in Korea.
To ask what country a person wants to live in is more close to a subjunctive situation. So in this case "살고 싶어요?" sounds correct, but "살래요?" does not. If you want to learn more country names in Korean, please click here.
5. Wrap-up & Worksheet: I want to V in Korean
-고 싶다 is attached to a verb stem and shows the hope or wish of the speaker.
It can be also used to ask about the listener's hopes or wishes.
The final consonant is not important.
"V고 싶어요" is used for the present tense; I want to V/ Do you want to V?
"V고 싶었어요" is used for the past tense; I wanted to V/ Did you want to V?
How was the lesson today? (오늘 수업은 어땠어요?) Please download the free printable PDF worksheet and practice more!
In the next lesson, you'll learn how to say someone else's hopes and wishes. Since today, you only learned how to talk about yours. See you next time! 다음 시간에 만나요! 🤗
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