How to tell them apart
たい directly states the speaker's own desire, so 私は行きたい is natural but 彼は行きたい sounds like you can read his mind. For third parties you must use たがる (the がる form of たい), which reports an observed want: 彼は行きたがっている. The split is about whose desire it is—first person takes たい, third person takes たがる.
- たい Use たい when talking about your own desire or asking the listener directly what they want.
- がる Use がる when describing how someone else visibly feels or acts based on an emotion you can observe.
| Grammar point | Meaning | JLPT level |
|---|---|---|
| たい tai | to want to do something | N5 |
| がる garu | Display outward signs of another person's emotions or wants | N4 |
たい tai
to want to do something
The suffix たい expresses that the speaker wants to do the action of the verb. It attaches to the masu-stem, as in 食べたい or 行きたい, and conjugates like an i-adjective, so the negative is たくない and the past is たかった. You can use たいですか to ask the listener what they want to do, but statements about a third person usually require forms like たがる or たいと言っている.
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もっとやりたいことがある。
There's something else I want to do.
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先生になりたいんだ。
I'd like to be a teacher.
がる garu
Display outward signs of another person's emotions or wants
がる reports how a third person appears to feel or what they appear to want, based on outward behavior. It replaces direct statements like さびしい or 食べたい, which are normally reserved for the speaker. Attach it to the stem of feeling adjectives like うれしがる and さびしがる, to ほしがる, and to the stem of たい forms like 行きたがる. The result conjugates as a godan verb, often appearing as がっている to describe an ongoing state.
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メグは日本について何でも知りたがる。
Meg is curious to know everything about Japan.
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その子は自転車をとてもほしがっている。
The boy is mad for a bicycle.
たい and がる are JLPT N5–N4 grammar points that Japanese learners often mix up. This page compares them side by side on meanings, usage and example sentences, so you can tell them apart.