てほしい - Grammar Discussion

I want you to

Structure

  • Verb[ ] + ほしい

[てほしい is used for when you want someone else to do something]
[たい is used when the speaker wants to do something or the speaker is speaking from someone else’s point of view ]

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Can you use してもらいたい to the same effect?

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@ulurujamman

Hey and welcome on the community forums :partying_face: Sorry for the extremely slow answer :bowing_man:

Yes, you can express the same idea using てもらいたい.
It will have the same meaning, but will be more indirect and therefore more polite. Plus, てほしい is used MUCH more often than てもらいたい.
You can make it even less direct by using てもらいたいんですが(and not finishing the sentence), it will make it into a more hesitant request.

When you want to make a more humble request, when speaking to superior and the like you can use ていただきたいです (or again, ていただきたいんですが)

I hope it helps,
Cheers!

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In this question:

コーラを ________ です。[買う]
I want you to buy [me] a cola.

Why is かってくれてほしい not correct?

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I basically came to ask the same thing, though I was going to also ask whether
コーラを かってほしい です。
specifically implies the “me” in “I want you to buy me a cola”, or if that’s just the most likely intent without any additional context, as I’d have read that as plain old “I want you to buy a cola”.

This is basically right. In most situations, the listener would assume you meant them, assuming there is no additional context. If you were specifically talking about someone else prior to that, then that could change the context.

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I also want to add that it seems that 作ってくれて 欲しい seems like the correct response, 作って欲しい would be “I want you to make a bento everyday” and does not clearly indicate the verb of giving.

て・くれる is not used with て・欲しい.

I’ve seen constructions like 作って渡して欲しい to say “I want you to make it and hand it over”, but the English sentences for this grammar point don’t say that.

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hey guys, was learning about this grammar point.

I have a question for this sentence: 手伝ってほしいの?
It’s translated as “Do you want me to help you?”
While the grammar point mentioned that てほしい means “want somebody to do something”. Hence, won’t the above sentence be translated into “Do I want you to help me?”

While “Do you want me to help you?” would be “手伝いたがる?”

手伝ってほしいの? without additional context indeed means “Do you want me to help you?”

Perhaps a useful way to think about it is that in questions frame of reference generally flips from speaker to listener. And so in questions people will fill in the blanks of missing topic, subject, object differently.
Let’s look at some examples:

行く
(I will) go (there)
行く?
(Will you) go (there)?

手伝いたい
(I) want to help (you, or somebody else we were just talking about)
手伝いたい?
(Do you) want to help (me, or somebody else we were just talking about)?

手伝ってほしい
(I) want you to help (me, or somebody else)
手伝ってほしい?
(Do you) want me to help (you, or somebody else)?

手伝いたがる
(You, or somebody else) look like you want to help (somebody, maybe me)
手伝いたがる?
Do (I, or somebody else) look like I want to help (somebody)?

Some of these sentences are not something people would say out of the blue, but could happen in a dialog. Please take them as just examples of how frame of reference changes, not like actual sentences to use in everyday life.
For example “手伝いたい?” is not the same as English “Do you want to help me?” which is just a politer way of saying “Will you help me?”.

I hope this helps, and welcome to the forums.