How Do I Say "I Want To" in Korean?

Put 고 싶어요 on the end of the verb. 먹고 싶어요 is "I want to eat", 가고 싶어요 is "I want to go". You take the verb, drop the 다, and attach it. It describes you, or in a question the person you are asking.

This is one of the first patterns where you can build sentences nobody handed you, which is why it is worth getting early.

How it attaches

The verb does not change shape. 먹다 becomes 먹고, 가다 becomes 가고, 마시다 becomes 마시고. Whatever irregularity a verb has stays out of this one, which is unusual and convenient.

All four forms

The statement is the one you will be taught. The other three are the ones a conversation needs.

The question form is the one that arrives at you in real life, and it is the one least practised. Being asked 가고 싶어요? and having nothing ready is a common way to stall in a conversation you were following fine.

⚠️ The negative attaches to 싶다, not to the verb: 가고 싶지 않아요. 안 가고 싶어요 is what learners build from the 안 pattern they met first, and it is not how this one negates.

Talking about someone else's wishes

고 싶어요 describes your own want, and in a question it describes the want of the person you are asking. 가고 싶어요? is the normal way to ask. What you do not do is use it to assert what a third person wants, because Korean treats somebody else's internal state as something you cannot state directly.

For a third person the form changes to 고 싶어 해요, which exists for exactly that. You do not need it yet, but knowing the boundary keeps you from producing a sentence that sounds like you read somebody's mind.

What it is not

• Not a polite request. 물 마시고 싶어요 in a café states a desire. 물 좀 주세요 asks for water. Only the second one is asking for it.
• Not for nouns. It attaches to verbs. "I want coffee" is 커피 마시고 싶어요, with a verb in it, or 커피 주세요 if you are ordering.
• Not stronger than it looks. It is an ordinary everyday sentence, not a declaration. You can use it about lunch.

What to do this week

1. Take five verbs you already know and say each one with 고 싶어요 out loud.
2. Run one of them through all four forms. The question and the answer are the ones to repeat.
3. Say one true sentence about something you actually want this week. A true sentence sticks better than a drilled one.
4. Leave 고 싶어 해요 alone until somebody asks you what a third person wants.

The short version

Verb stem plus 고 싶어요, no irregularities to worry about, and it describes you or, in a question, the person you are asking. Learn the question form alongside the statement and you have a pattern you can actually have a conversation with.

Read next

• Eun/Neun vs I/Ga (은/는 vs 이/가): Which One Do I Use?
• Is Korean Grammar Backwards?