How To Say “Want To Do Something” In Korean?

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We learned many verbs in the previous videos. I hope you memorized them all, because we are going to learn how to say you want to do something, and we are going to use the verbs we learned. So are you ready? Let’s go!

싶다
싶다 is an assistant adjective which is used to indicate that the speaker has an intention or desire to do what the preceding statement describes. So basically 싶다 has the meaning of “want”. In English you say “I want “to do” something”, in Korean it’s -하고 싶다 or -고 싶다. -고 싶다 is 반말 or informal speech. For the formal or polite situations, you must say -고 싶어요 or -고 싶습니다.

-고 싶어요
All you need to do is remove -다 from the original verb, the action what you want to do, and put -고 싶어요. Let’s see how to use -고 싶어요 conjugation with some examples:

-하다 verbs: -하고 싶어요
오늘 뭐 하고 싶어? What do you want to do today?
생각해 볼게.. Let me think..
나 PC방 가서 게임하고 싶어. I want to go to the PC room and play computer games.
나는 게임 안 해. 차라리 혼자 쇼핑하고 싶어. I don’t play games. I’d rather go shopping by myself.

In this conversation, 하다 means “to do”, 생각하다 means “to think”, 게임하다 means “to play a game” and 쇼핑하다 means “to shop”. Every verb ends with -하다. To say I want to do something, just delete 다 and add -고 싶어요, so they all change into -하고 싶어요.

코로나 때문에 학교에 못 가요. 친구들이랑 한국어 공부하고 싶어요. I cannot go to school due to COVID-19. I want to study Korean with my friends.
나는 다른 나라 여행하고 싶어요. 언제 할 수 있을까요? I want to travel abroad. When shall I go?
같이 한국어 연습해요. Let’s practice Korean together.


공부하다 means “to study”, 여행하다 means “to travel” and 연습하다 means “to practice”.

Other verbs: -고 싶어요
오늘 너무 졸려요. 자고 싶어요. 집에 가고 싶어요. I’m too sleepy. I want to sleep. I want to go home.
회사에 오자마자 집에 가고 싶으면 어떡해요. 그렇게 집에 가고 싶으면 앞으로는 회사에 오지 마세요. You want to go home the minute you arrive at the office? If you want to go home that much then never come back to work from now on.

자다 means “to sleep” and 자고 싶어요 means “want to sleep”. 가다 means “to go” and 가고 싶어요 means “want to go somewhere”. As you can see if the verb ends with -다, it changes into -고 싶어요.

새 아이폰 사고 싶어. 생일 선물로 받고 싶어. I want to buy the new iPhone. I want to receive one as my birthday present.
생일 선물로 받고 싶다고? 나는 너랑 그만 보고 싶어. You want me to buy you an iPhone? I don’t want to see you anymore.
농담이야. 나 맛있는 거 먹고 싶어. 뭐 먹으러 갈까? I’m just joking. I want to eat something delicious. Where shall we go?
답답해서 술이나 마시고 싶어. I’m frustrated, I just want to drink.

사다 means “to buy” and 사고 싶다 means “want to buy something”. 받다 means “to receive” and 받고 싶다 means “want to receive something”. 보다 means “to see or meet” and 보고 싶다 means “want to see something or someone”. 먹다 means “to eat” and 먹고 싶다 means “want to eat something”. Finally 마시다 means “to drink” and 마시고 싶다 means “want to drink something”.

프랑스어로 말하고 싶어요. I want to speak French.
나 프랑스어 말할 수 있어요. 나는 한국어를 배우고 싶어요. I can speak French. I want to learn Korean.

말하다 means “to speak” or “to say”, and 배우다 means “to learn”.

남자친구 만들고 싶어. I want to get a boyfriend.
나는 어때? 나는 늘 너를 만나고 싶은데. How about me? I always want to meet you.
뭐? 갑자기 왜 이래. What? What’s wrong with you?
내 마음을 너에게 주고 싶어. I want to give you my love.

만들다 means “to make something”, 만나다 means “to meet” and 주다 means “to give something to someone”.

Now if you want to say that you want to do something, all you have to say is -고 싶어요. Please tell me what you want to do this weekend. Please leave a comment in Korean. I want to know, 알고 싶어요! 알다 means “to know”. Thank you for watching and see you soon in the next video!