Page 527 - Basic Japanese

to eat.’ Alongside the adjective ikitai ‘wants to go,’ we have

the verb ikitagaru ‘is eager to go, desires to go.’ (The -ta-
element is the same in the forms with -ta-i and the forms

with -ta-gar-u.) The desiderative verb is used for third person,

and you seldom use them of yourself or for the second
person. Notice that the desiderative verbs take direct
objects with the particle o, although the desiderative

adjectives take either direct objects with o or emphatic

subjects with ga.

Here are some examples:

Chikagoro no wakamono wa hen na kotoba o

tsukaitagarimasu.
Young people nowadays want to use strange
words.

Yoko-san wa Eigo o naraitagatte imasu.
Yoko is eager to learn English.

Uchi no inu wa aisukurīmu o tabetagarimasu.
Our dog wants to eat ice cream.

10.22. … …mono desu

You have learned that the noun mono means ‘a thing that

you can touch or feel,’ as contrasted with koto, an abstract
thing you talk about. It also sometimes means ‘guy, fellow,’

a slightly less polite term than hito ‘person.’ There is a

special use of mono desu in which the noun does not have a