How to say 'I want' in Korean?
The Korean text pronunciation feature (🔊) is only available for Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Opera browsers.
Verb + 고 싶다
The Korean grammatical construction '고 싶다' indicates a person's desire or wish to do something. This grammar can only be used with first-person (I, we) and second-person (you) subjects.
I want to hug a dolphin. (ㅇ) He wants to hug a dolphin. (x)
See examples,
(click on translation and grammar buttons)
저는 외계인을 만나고 싶습니다.
Korean
외계인
만나다
English
alien, extraterrestrial
to meet
I want to meet an alien.
저는 외계인을 만나고 싶+습니다.
우리가 영화를 보고 싶습니다.
Korean
우리
영화
보다
English
we
movie
to see, to look, to watch
We want to watch a movie.
우리가 영화를 보고 싶+습니다.
무엇을 하고 싶습니까?
Korean
무엇
하다
English
what
to do
What do you want to do?
무엇을 하고 싶+습니까?
Verb + 고 싶어하다
For third-person subjects (he, she, they) use -고 싶어하다.
I want to hug a dolphin. (x) He wants to hug a dolphin. (o)
See examples,
(click on translation and grammar buttons)
제 조카는 외계인을 만나고 싶어합니다.
Korean
제
조카
English
my
nephew/niece
My nephew / niece wants to meet an alien.
저+의 조카는 외계인을 만나고 싶어하+ㅂ니다.
그들은 영화를 보고 싶어합니다.
Korean
그들
English
they
They want to watch a movie.
그들+은 영화를 보고 싶어하+ㅂ니다.
Quick reference (click to open)
Vowels: a, e, i, o, u
Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j
Syllable: Bra-zil (2 syllables), Ar-gen-ti-na (4), In-di-a (3), Viet-nam (2), thin-king (2), beau-ti-ful (3), good (1)
Batchim: is a final consonant in a syllable. → Bra-zil (batchim: 'l'), Ar-gen-ti-na (batchims: 'r' and 'n'), In-di-a ('n'), Viet-nam ('t', 'm')
Romanization: is a conversion of text (not pronunciation ! ) from different writing system (Korean, Arabic, Russian, etc.) to the Roman (Latin) alphabet.
IPA: is an alphabetic system of phonetic (pronunciation) notation.
Noun: road, user, sister, table, sky
Pronoun: I, my, we, you, they, her
Verb: to go, to study, to think, to feel
Adjective: cold, kind, hungry, curious, expensive
Adverb: quickly, nicely, never, exactly, urgently
Preposition: from, to, on, in, with, till
Conjuction: and, because, if, but, while
Declarative sentence: I learn Korean.
Interrogative sentence: Do you learn Korean?
Imperative sentence: You must learn Korean!
Exclamative sentence: Wow, you learn Korean!
Verb / Adj. stem in Korean: part of a verb or adj. which is left after removing the last syllable -다 ( e.g. 가다 → 가, 예쁘다 → 예쁘, 듣다 → 듣 ).