jabi-고 싶다
-고 싶다: Want To — Why It Can't Describe Anyone Else
To want to do something — restricted to the speaker, or the listener in questions.
How to form it
| When | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Any action verb | stem + -고 싶다 | 가다 → 가고 싶어요 |
| Past — wanted to | -고 싶었다 | 가고 싶었어요 |
| Negative | -고 싶지 않다 / 안 -고 싶다 | 가고 싶지 않아요 |
| About a third person | -고 싶어 하다 | 동생이 가고 싶어 해요 |
| With nouns | use 을/를 or 이/가 | 물을 마시고 싶어요 / 물이 마시고 싶어요 |
-고 싶다 means want to. It is one of the first things worth being able to say, and it has a restriction English speakers do not expect.
Building it
Attach -고 to the plain stem, then conjugate 싶다 as the main verb.
가다 → 가고 싶어요 I want to go
먹다 → 먹고 싶어요 I want to eat
쉬다 → 쉬고 싶어요 I want to rest
공부하다 → 공부하고 싶어요싶다 never stands alone. It exists only after -고.
Past: -고 싶었어요 — I wanted to. Negative: -고 싶지 않아요 or 안 -고 싶어요.
The restriction
You cannot use it to describe someone else.
저는 가고 싶어요. ✅ I want to go
동생이 가고 싶어요. ✗
동생이 가고 싶어 해요. ✅ my brother wants to goThe reason is that Korean treats wanting as private information. You know your own; you do not have direct access to anyone else’s. Asserting it flatly would be claiming to see inside someone’s head.
-고 싶어 하다 adds 하다, which reframes the feeling as something you observed rather than something you know from inside. Literally: does the wanting-to-go.
This is not an isolated quirk. Korean applies the same logic to feelings generally — 좋아하다 rather than 좋다 for other people’s likes, and adjectives of emotion behaving differently in the third person.
Questions are exempt, because you are asking rather than asserting:
뭐 먹고 싶어요? — What do you want to eat?
Action verbs only
-고 싶다 attaches to things you do, not states you are in.
예쁘고 싶어요. ✗
예뻐지고 싶어요. ✅ I want to become prettyFor a state, go through -아/어지다 (to become) first. Same for 행복해지고 싶어요, 건강해지고 싶어요.
The particle wobble
Both of these occur:
물을 마시고 싶어요.
물이 마시고 싶어요.
싶다 is grammatically an adjective, and adjectives pull their noun toward 이/가. So the object can drift to the subject particle.
In speech 을/를 is more common and nothing will be corrected either way. Worth knowing only so the 이 version does not look like a mistake when you meet it.
Wanting a thing, not an action
-고 싶다 always needs a verb. For objects:
새 폰을 갖고 싶어요. — I want a new phone. (갖다 = to have)
물을 원해요. — I want water. (원하다, more formal)
갖고 싶다 is the everyday choice; 원하다 turns up in writing and in service language.
Sentences worth having ready
| 한국에 가고 싶어요 | I want to go to Korea |
| 한국어를 배우고 싶어요 | I want to learn Korean |
| 쉬고 싶어요 | I want to rest |
| 뭐 먹고 싶어요? | What do you want to eat? |
| 집에 가고 싶어요 | I want to go home |
Do not confuse it with
Taught alongside this
In the Sejong course this appears in 떡볶이는 매워서 잘 못 먹어요 — Sejong Korean 1, Unit 11, on the theme of 음식. These come with it:
Words used above
Quick check
No sign-up, no score saved — just see if it stuck.
1. How do you say 'My younger brother wants to go'?
2. Which is correct: 'I want to rest'?
3. Can you say 예쁘고 싶어요?
Common questions
Why can't I use it about other people?
Korean treats wanting as private information. You can report your own, and you can ask about someone else's, but asserting a third person's inner state needs -고 싶어 하다 — which frames it as something you observed.
Can I use it in questions about someone else?
Yes, when you are asking them directly: 뭐 먹고 싶어요? The restriction is on assertions, not questions.
Is 물이 마시고 싶어요 wrong?
No. Both 물을 and 물이 occur, because 싶다 is an adjective and pulls the noun toward the subject particle. 을/를 is more common in speech; neither will be corrected.
What about wanting a thing rather than an action?
Use 원하다 or 갖고 싶다. 물을 원해요, 새 폰을 갖고 싶어요. -고 싶다 always needs a verb.
Seen in the wild
Lessons where this pattern showed up in real Korean — news, slang, drama lines.