Lesson 18 - Expressing wishes with -고 싶다

Hello everyone!

How’s it going? We’re back again with a brand new pattern and it involves the conjugation of verbs. This pattern expresses the meaning of ‘to want to do something’ and it’s very simple, so it won’t take you too long to understand.

The usage is pretty simple, and the form is too. All you need to do is to attach the stem of any kind of verb to the form -고 싶다. There’s no specific rule to follow, you just need to remember which is the verb stem of a verb and you’ll be ready to use this pattern right away! (if you don’t remember what a verb stem is, check here)

Let’s look at a verb to understand how you apply this pattern:

Step 1: choose a verb

In this case, we have the verb to read in its dictionary form and the pattern. 

(읽다 + 고 싶다)

Step 2: add the verb stem and the pattern together

After understanding which syllable block is the verb stem, add it to the pattern. 

(읽다 -> 읽 + 고 싶다)

Final Result: your verb is ready to be conjugated

The result will be the verb stem attached to the unconjugated pattern. In this case, it will be 읽고 싶다.

How do we conjugate this pattern? Easy. Just think of 싶다 as the dictionary form of a regular verb and, POOF, the job is done. In fact, when you use this pattern, you’ll see the verb 싶다 being conjugated and expressing the tenses you need.

Before I confuse you by saying anything at all, let me explain myself. The pattern is directly attached to the verb stem, right? So, being attached to the stem of it, the pattern itself kind of becomes part of the verb. By becoming such, when the pattern is conjugated, the meaning will be expressed through the translation of the pattern. How? Let’s look at an example:

그 책을 읽고 싶어요

I want to read that book

With the meaning of the sentence, I refer to the meaning you want to give the sentence. It sounds complicated, but let’s think about it. By using this pattern, you give the meaning of wanting to do something to the sentence. So the sentence 그 책을 읽어요 I read that book turns into 그 책을 읽고 싶어요 I want to read that book. The meaning obviously changes, as you can see.

Let’s look at some more examples:

화장실에 가고 싶어요

I want to go to the bathroom

너랑 사진을 찍고 싶어요!

I want to take a picture with you

As I said, the verb 싶다 in the pattern is the one expressing the tense of a sentence. What does this mean? It simply means that you can have this pattern in the past tense, other than the present one.

어제 만나고 싶었어요!

I wanted to meet you yesterday

한국어를 기초 단계부터 공부하고 싶었어요

I wanted to study Korean from the basics

You can also use the negative form with it, and it will be attached to 싶다, like the other tenses (for the negative forms, click here).

울고 싶지 않아

I don’t want to cry

맛없으니까 안 먹고 싶어

I don’t want to eat because it’s not tasty

방해하고 싶지 않았어요.

I didn’t want to disturb you

이 드라마는 안 보고 싶어요

I don’t want to watch this drama

VOCABS SET ON QUIZLET: 1 

KPOPOLOGY WEBSITE: Home, KPOPOLOGY Explains 

DROPBOX FILES: Main folder, Lesson 18 Practice

I will see you next time with another grammar post!

 구름