Can たい be used to express desire for 2nd person

Question

Can たい be used to express desire for a 2nd person to do something. For example:

I want you to come back

戻りたい

I realise the proper way to do this is to use あなたに戻って欲しい, but was just wondering if たい is also proper.

If you say あなたに戻りたい it just sounds like **I** want to go back **to** you, where the に becomes "to". — , Mar 08 '20 at 11:48
@Earthliŋ Doesn't really answer the question of whether it can be used for second person — donburi, Mar 08 '20 at 14:06
@donburi In my answer to the linked question you can find the answer (〜たい should be used for first person, and second person is not the same as first person). In any case, I'm confused by this question, since you seem to know how to say it with 戻ってほしい, but you're wondering if you can use 戻りたい instead...? — Earthliŋ, Mar 08 '20 at 17:02
@Earthliŋ I know the proper way is to use して欲しい but am curious whether たい can also be used for 2nd person. Sometimes, there are more than 1 way to say the same thing — donburi, Mar 08 '20 at 21:15

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 08 '20 at 14:21

4

If you want to express desire for a 2nd person to do something, you can use these phrase, Aに～してほしい or Aに～してもらいたい. So you can say あなたに戻ってきてもらいたい or あなたに戻ってきてほしい.

answered Mar 08 '20 at 14:21

Yuuichi Tam

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Thanks. Don't want to be a party pooper but I already knew that. The question that I am interested in is, can verb + たい, ie: 戻りたい be used for a 2nd person. In other words,戻りたい translates to "I want you to come back" – donburi Mar 08 '20 at 21:18
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Do you ask that 私は、あなたに戻りたい can be translated as "I want you to come back"? No, it can't be and doesn't make sense. – Yuuichi Tam Mar 08 '20 at 21:29
I know 戻りたい can mean "I want to come back", but I am asking if 戻りたい can also mean "I want you to come back" – donburi Mar 09 '20 at 05:55
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No, it can't. 戻りたい means "I want to come back". – Yuuichi Tam Mar 09 '20 at 06:38
あざっす。全然ダメのことっすか。"て...欲しい"ってなんか硬いと思いますので.. – donburi Mar 09 '20 at 07:34
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もっとカジュアルに言いたいのなら、"戻ってきて"だけでも通じるよ。 – Yuuichi Tam Mar 09 '20 at 08:54

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 09 '20 at 14:03

Can たい be used to express desire for a 2nd person to do something.

No. The 〜たい form to express a desire or wish can only be used to express your own feelings and applies only to the 1st person ("I"). In particular, if you say

戻りたい

it will always be interpreted as you yourself wanting to return / go back.

If you want to talk about someone else (2nd person "you" or 3rd person "he/she/it") you have to use other forms of expression, such as 〜て欲しい (if you want someone else to do something) or 〜たがる (to describe what someone else seems to want/desire).

For more information see

Can たい be used to express desire for 2nd person

2 Answers2