hello people! i was watching one of the videos of the youtube channel “miku real japanese” and there were two sentences which confused me:
1. 新しいけいたい **が**欲しい (atarashii kentai **ga** hoshii.) – i want a new phone.
2. お姉ちゃんは新しいけいたい **を** 欲しがっている (oneechan wa atarashii keitai **wo** hoshigatteiru.) – my older sister wants a new phone.
so in the first sentence the が (ga) particle is used after the 新しいけいたい (atarashii keitai) but in the second the を (wo) particle is used after the 新しいけいたい (atarashii keitai). i know that the が (ga) particle is used to mark the subject and the を (wo) particle is used for the object, but i cannot understand why 新しいけいたい (atarashii keitai) is subject in the first sentence and it became object in the second sentence? why is that? it almost says the same thing, someone wants a new phone, so why the particle changes? could you explain this to me in a logical manner rather than in a ” you internalize it over time.” way? thanks in advance!
5 comments
欲しがっている is a different grammar point than ほしい, it’s used to say “someone shows signs of something”.
欲しい is an i-adjective
欲しがる is a verb
The particles make sense when you realize that, no?
ほしい is an adjective (like “Phone is desirable/wanted”), adjectives use が.
欲しがっている is a verb phrase, of the verb 欲しがる (like “Sister is currently seeming to want a phone”), that uses を .
欲しがる is a verb, objects of verbs are marked by を. 欲しい is an adjective, the things adjectives describe are marked by は or が depending on the sentence.
> i know that the が (ga) particle is used to mark the subject and the を (wo) particle is used for the object
Some objects also use “〜が” this purely depends on the verb, in some verbs either can be used, typically with “〜が” being seen as more “correct” in that case.
Some people here say that since “欲しがる” is a verb it uses “〜を” and since ”欲しい” is an adjective it uses “〜が” but many verbs use “~が” for their object as well and some adjectives use “〜を”, though not many.
It’s also “それがわかる” for instance for “I understand that.”, わかる is a verb and uses “〜が” for it’s object. Conversely the desirative moods of verbs are adjectives and can use either “〜を” or “〜が” with the latter seen as more correct but the former not wrong at all.
– “あなたを好きだ” <- na-adjective uses “〜を”, but “〜が” is also common here.
– “パンを食べたい” <- i-adjective uses “〜を”, but “〜が” is also common here.
– “それがわかる” <- verb uses “〜が”, “〜を” does not occur here.
– “この本が読める” <- verb uses “〜が”, “〜を” also occurs here.