CONTENTS
ほしい (expressing desire)
〜かもしれません (expressing uncertainty)
あげる・くれる・もらう (giving and receiving) *skipped in this post; look at this post for notes on あげる and くれる
〜たらどうですか？(giving suggestions)
# + も・# + しか + negative (as many as/only)
1. ほしい : EXPRESSING DESIRE
To say you want to do something, we use 〜たい, but to say you want something, a noun, we use ほしい.
ほしい means “desired” and is used to say you want something. It is a い-adjective and conjugates as such.
(Object of desire) が ほしいです。
(Object not desired) は ほしくないです。
ほしい is limited to first person. Here are some ways to say someone else wants something:
(Subject) は (object of desire) を ほしがっています。= subject is showing signs of desiring object.
(Subject) は (object of desire) が ほしいと言っています。= subject said they wanted object.
(Subject) は (object of desire) が ほしいと思っています。= subject thinks that he wants object.
(Subject) は (object of desire) が ほしそうです。= it seems like subject wants object.
Examples:
妹は子犬をほしがっています。
My little sister wants a puppy.
子供の時、いつもニンテンドーDSがほしいが、だれもくれませんでした。
When I was a child, I always wanted a Nintendo DS, but no one gave it to me.
2. 〜かもしれません : EXPRESSING UNCERTAINTY
かもしれません can be used to say something is a possibility but you are not sure what is really the case. The same concept can be expressed with でしょう, but かもしれません sounds more uncertain.
It is placed after short forms of any kind, present or past, affirmative or negative. If a な-adjective or noun precedes it and it is not in past tense, だ is dropped.
Examples:
先生は日本人かもしれません。
The teacher might be Japanese.
あの人は英語が話せるかもしれません。
That person might be able to speak English.
メアリーさんは子供の時、低かったかもしれません。
Mary might have been short when she was a kid.
4: 〜たらどうですか？: GIVING SUGGESTIONS
This can be used to give suggestions but can sound critical. It’s translated as “how about…?” or “why don’t you…?” It follows the past tense short form of a verb.
This cannot be used to suggest NOT doing something. In order to convey this, you can say “(verb in short form) のを やめたらどうですか？” which means “how about you stop doing…?”
Examples:
医者に行ったらどうですか。
How about you go to a doctor?
服を買うのをやめたらどうですか。
Why don’t you stop buying clothes?
5. # + も / # + しか + negative : AS MANY AS/ONLY
も can be used to say “as many as” when describing amount. It implies the number is above expectations and may have a tone of surprise.
しか is used to say “only” when describing few amounts of things. It implies insufficiency and may have a tone of disappointment. When しか is used, the sentence must end in a negative predicate.
Examples:
彼は車を四台も持っていますよ。
He has as many as four cars.
友達は一週間に二回しか学校に行きませんでした。
My friend only goes to school two times a week.
I didn’t have time to make these into separate posts with more detail, so I hope this will do for now. As usual, please let me know if I made any mistakes in my sample sentences! Also, sorry for skipping the third point… It’s just a lot of information and probably needs its own post.
