How to say 'want it to snow'

McCrutch67 · 10 Feb 2005

Can I say "私は雪が降りたい" to mean I want it to snow?

And "私は明日に沢山雪が降りたい" to mean I want it to snow a lot tomorrow. I'm almost sure I got particles/order wrong. (And how would I say I hope it does instead of I want it to)

Also do they have snow days in Japanese schools. If so, how would I say "I hope tomorrow is a snow day"?

CorDarei · 10 Feb 2005

McCrutch67 said:
Can I say "私は雪が降りたい" to mean I want it to snow?

And "私は明日に沢山雪が降りたい" to mean I want it to snow a lot tomorrow. I'm almost sure I got particles/order wrong. (And how would I say I hope it does instead of I want it to)

Also do they have snow days in Japanese schools. If so, how would I say "I hope tomorrow is a snow day"?

I'm 99.99999% sure neither of those sentences make sense. If you want to say, "I want it to snow (tomorrow)" you might say （明日）雪が降ってほしい and for "I hope it snows tomorrow" 明日雪が降ったらいいな.

McCrutch67 · 10 Feb 2005

So the -itai form can only be if the subject wants to do it?

明日雪が降ったらいいな

Is this semi-literally "It would be good if it snowed tomorrow"?

雪が降ってほしい

I knew about ほしい but I thought it was only for if you wanted to have something. Also, don't you need a particle between 降って and ほしい?

Damicci · 10 Feb 2005

no particle is needed but i think you can also put hoshii in front or to say "snows alot" you could put takusan in front of furu (conjugated forms).

ex takusan tabetai 沢山食べたい。 I want to eat a large quantity.
Takusan tabetenai 沢山食べてない。 I can not eat a large quantity.

Elizabeth · 10 Feb 2005

ex takusan tabetai 沢山食べたい。 I want to eat a large quantity.
Takusan tabetenai 沢山食べてない。 I can not eat a large quantity.

I want to eat ---- 食べたい
I cannot eat ---- 食べられない

okaeri_man · 10 Feb 2005

私は雪が降りたい, it's ok, but it sounds to me like there is an unnecessary emphasis on watashi. just 雪が降りたい is an option worth considering, or perhaps the slightly different 雪が降ったらいいな (it would be good if it snowed).

i don't know about snow days. where i stayed it didn't seem to snow enough to cause traffic disruptions, but I'm sure they have them in hokkaidou

McCrutch67 · 10 Feb 2005

Thanks for all the replies! I hope I remember some of this stuff. I know particles are tricky sometimes so I knew the watashi wa could be unnecessary . That's why I like 雪が降ったらいいな. It's unnecessary to say that you want it to snow, just that it would be good if it did. Just for reference, what exactly is the role of the な in that sentence?

bentenmusume · 10 Feb 2005

okaeri_man said:
私は雪が降りたい, it's ok, but it sounds to me like there is an unnecessary emphasis on watashi. just 雪が降りたい is an option worth considering,

No, it's only "worth considering" if you're trying to say "the snow wants to fall" -- otherwise it's dead wrong. ～たい and ～てほしい are absolutely not interchangeable.

Elizabeth · 10 Feb 2005

I asked a friend and here is his response (only slightly better than some of the other suggestions though). :--)

それを言った人の気持ちに最も近いのは「雪が降って欲しい」ですが
あまりこの言い方はしませんね。
「雪になるといいな」「雪が降らないかぁ？」あたりでしょう。

okaeri_man · 10 Feb 2005

McCrutch67 said:
Just for reference, what exactly is the role of the な in that sentence?

same as ね which you've probably encountered before. the role is seeking agreement, or just showing that you're thinking to yourself. Elizabeth's suggestion 雪になるといいな is pretty similiar to my suggestion of 雪が降ったらいいな as you can see.

jt_ said:
No, it's only "worth considering" if you're trying to say "the snow wants to fall" -- otherwise it's dead wrong. ～たい and ～てほしい are absolutely not interchangeable.

meh. I'm sure the snow wants to fall.
ok, scrub 雪が降りたい and replace with 雪が降ってほしい.

McCrutch67 · 10 Feb 2005

ありがとう皆さん。それがとても有用です。

orochi · 10 Feb 2005

雪が降ったらいい、雪になるといい are definitely the best choices. The thing you have to remember about ～したい is that it describes the feelings of either you or the person you are talking to, not a third person or entity (i.e. the snow in this case).

Making a statement about yourself,
私は日本に行きたい。 I want to go to Japan. (This is proper usage.)

Talking to your friend,
日本に行きたい？ Do you want to go to Japan? (This is also proper usage.)

Talking about a third person,
X 山田さんは日本に行きたい。 (This is incorrect Japanese although it is often uttered by foreign speakers.)

To say this correctly, it is neccesary to use one of the following forms:
山田さんは日本に行きたがっている。
山田さんは日本に行きたいと言っていた。
山田さんは日本に行きたいらしい。
山田さんは日本に行きたいようだ。
山田さんは日本に行きたいそうだ。
山田さんは日本に行きたいと思う。

It is necessary to use one of the above forms to talk about the feelings or desires of a third person.

Also, a note on the difference between ～したい and ～してほしい.
As mentioned above, ～したい is used to describe what you want to do.
私は日本に行きたい。 I want to go to Japan.

On the other hand,
わたしはあなたに日本に行ってほしい。 I want you to go to Japan.
It is used to describe something that you want someone to do for you.

Some other examples of ～てほしい:
もっと早く言ってほしかった。 I wanted you to tell me sooner.
私だけ見てほしい。 I want you to look at only me.
ごみを出してほしい。 I want you to take out the trash.

Damicci · 10 Feb 2005

Yeah elizabeth kinda misspelled that i'll leave it jacked up so your post makes sense.

orochi i didn't know about that third person speaking form....that is really good info for me to know thanks.

Damicci · 10 Feb 2005

Elizabeth said:
I want to eat ---- 食べたい
I cannot eat ---- 食べられない

Now i think about it, was watching a drifting video and they had a female reporter who was riding along with a japanese drifter. when she tried to get out of the car she said:
立ってない。
They translated it in the subtitle to:
"I (am unable to/can't) stand!"
That's why i thought using the negative present tense would be correct.

bentenmusume · 10 Feb 2005

Damicci said:
Now i think about it, was watching a drifting video and they had a female reporter who was riding along with a japanese drifter. when she tried to get out of the car she said:
立ってない。
They translated it in the subtitle to:
"I (am unable to/can't) stand!"
That's why i thought using the negative present tense would be correct.

I think you heard an extra 「っ」 in there.

立てない would be the negative potential form, and equivalent in meaning to the English above.

Elizabeth · 10 Feb 2005

Damicci said:
Yeah elizabeth kinda misspelled that i'll leave it jacked up so your post makes sense.

「雪が降らないかな？」 is the correct spelling and I would guess it's fairly widely used, similar in form to 'ii koto ga okoranai kana'....I wish something good would happen....

okaeri_man · 10 Feb 2005

明日の天気にな～れ ^_^

Damicci · 10 Feb 2005

Elizabeth said:
「雪が降らないかな？」 is the correct spelling and I would guess it's fairly widely used, similar in form to 'ii koto ga okoranai kana'....I wish something good would happen....

くそ
I meant I misspelled not you sorry. My typing is getting worse and worse with the more japanese I learn lmao

Elizabeth · 10 Feb 2005

okaeri_man said:
明日の天気にな～れ ^_^

何のことでしょうか？

Hiroyuki Nagashima · 11 Feb 2005

okaeri_man said:
明日の天気にな～れ ^_^

もしかしてPossibly :joyful:

あした、天気にな～れ!?

「日本古来の下駄占いの呪文」"An incantation of clogs fortune-telling"

okaeri_man · 11 Feb 2005

あ、"の"がいらないね。悪い

John Lemon · 17 Feb 2005

What about "雪が降ればいいのに"? This phrase has 640ish Google hits, so I must've done something right.

How to say 'want it to snow'

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