Expressing Desire in Korean || Using 싶다 and 원하다

Q: Some examples with 하고 싶다 ?

내 친구는 러시아어 공부를 하고 싶다 . My friend wants to study Russian language. 아버지와 함께 운동을 하고 싶다 . I want to go for exercise with my dad. 나는 휴가 동안 독서를 많이 하고 싶다 . I want to read a lot of books during my vacation.

Q: How to make negative sentences in Korean?

Expressing ‘not’. For verbs and adjectives. Add ‘안’ or ‘-지 않아요’ in front of them. Example: 지수는 초콜릿을 좋아하지 않아요. Expressing ‘cannot’. For verbs only. Add 못’or ‘-지 못해요’ in front of the verb. Example: 저는 수영을 못 해요. Expressing ‘do not know’. The word ‘to know’ in Korean is ‘알다’. However, we rarely apply the methods of case 1 and case 2 for this word. Instead, we use the word ‘몰라요’ Example: 나는 그녀의 연락처를 몰라요. Expressing ‘not have’. When we make a sentence to talk about the absence of something, we would use ‘없어요’. Example: 공원에 사람들이 거의 없어요. -- Learn more about the negative form in Korean here.

Q: What are some Korean sentence structures?

Here are the 3 most basic Korean sentence structure: #1 || Subject + Verb #2 || Subject + Object + Verb #3 || Subject + Noun / Adjective -- Learn more about Korean sentence structure here.

Home A1 Expressing desire in Korean

EXPRESSING DESIRE IN KOREAN

The most common verbs used to express desire in Korean are 싶다 (shipda) and 원하다 (wonhada).

The objects or actions that are being desired are usually placed in front of the verbs ‘싶다’ and ‘원하다’ and are used with the object particles ‘을/를 (eul/rul)’.

WITH ~하다 VERBS

When the verbs ‘싶다’ and ‘원하다’ are used with objects that have been derived from ‘하다’ verbs, it takes the following structure:

~하기를 원하다. Conjugation I
~를/을 하고 싶다. Conjugation II

Let’s take a look at a few examples on how we can conjugate ‘하다’ verbs in this case.

‘하다’ verb infinitive	Conjugation I (i.e., ~하기를)	Conjugation II (i.e., ~를/을 하고)
공부하다 To study	공부 하기를	공부를 하고
식사하다 To have a meal	식사 하기를	식사를 하고
운동하다 To do physical exercise	운동 하기를	운동을 하고
독서하다 To read	독서 하기를	독서를 하고
여행하다 To travel	여행 has-text-align-center center data-th='Conjugation II (i.e., ~를/을 charset="utf-8">[speak 여행을 하고
수영하다 To swim	수영 하기를	수영을 하고

Now that you understand the conjugation part, let’s have a look at some sentence examples to help you better understand this topic:

Korean	English
나는 휴가 동안 독서를 많이 하고 싶다.	I want to read a lot of books during my vacation.
그녀는 주말에 수영 하기를 원한다.	She wants to go for swimming on the weekends.
내 친구는 러시아어 공부를 하고 싶다.	My friend wants to study Russian language.
이번 여름엔 유럽 여행을 하고 싶다.	I want to travel in Europe this summer.
운동을 하고 맛있게 식사 하기를 원한다.	I want to eat a good meal after I exercise.
아버지와 함께 운동을 하고 싶다.	I want to go for exercise with my dad.

WITH OTHER VERBS

When the verbs ‘싶다’ and ‘원하다’ are used with objects that have been derived from verbs in general, it takes the following structure:

~고 싶다. Conjugation I
~기를 원한다. Conjugation II

Let’s take a look at a few examples on how we can conjugate verbs in this case.

It’s quite simple – you just need to remove ‘다’ from the infinitive of the verb and add ‘기를’ or ‘고’.

Infinitive verb	Conjugation I (i.e., ~기를)	Conjugation II (i.e., ~고)
잠자다 To sleep	charset="utf-8">	charset="utf-8">
charset="utf-8"> To walk	charset="utf-8">	charset="utf-8">
charset="utf-8"> To run	charset="utf-8">	charset="utf-8">
charset="utf-8"> To eat	charset="utf-8">	charset="utf-8">
charset="utf-8"> To write	charset="utf-8">	charset="utf-8">
charset="utf-8"> To read	charset="utf-8">	charset="utf-8">

Let’s use these verbs in context, with sentence examples:

Korean	English
1) 나는 빨리 잠자기를 원한다. charset="utf-8"> 2) 나는 빨리 잠자고 charset="utf-8">	I want to go for sleep right away.
1) 그녀는 버스를 타기 보다는 걷기를 원한다. charset="utf-8"> 2) 그녀는 버스를 타기 보다는 걷고 charset="utf-8">	She wants to walk rather than taking a bus.
1) 나는 잘 달리고 싶다. charset="utf-8"> 2) 나는 잘 달리기를 charset="utf-8">	I want to run well.
1) 동생은 빵을 먹고 싶다. charset="utf-8"> 2) 동생은 빵을 먹기를 charset="utf-8">	My younger brother wants to eat some bread.
1) 사라는 글을 잘 쓰고 싶다. charset="utf-8"> 2) 사라는 글을 잘 쓰기를 charset="utf-8">	Sarah wants to write well.
1) 철수는 영어로 잘 읽고 싶다. charset="utf-8"> 2) 철수는 영어로 잘 읽기를 charset="utf-8">	Cheol Su wants to read well in English.

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MORE RESOURCES

Want to learn more? Check out these other free resources:

Learn how to express desire in Mandarin
Learn how to express desire in Japanese
Learn how to express desire in Vietnamese

FAQs

How to express desire in Korean?

The most common verbs used to express desire in Korean are 싶다 (shipda) and 원하다 (wonhada).

The objects or actions that are being desired are usually placed in front of the verbs ‘싶다’ and ‘원하다’ and are used with the object particles ‘을/를 (eul/rul)’:

나는 휴가 동안 독서를 많이 하고 싶다.

I want to read a lot of books during my vacation.

나는 빨리 잠자고 싶다.

I want to go for sleep right away.

Some examples with 하고 싶다 ?

내 친구는 러시아어 공부를 하고 싶다.

My friend wants to study Russian language.

아버지와 함께 운동을 하고 싶다.

I want to go for exercise with my dad.

나는 휴가 동안 독서를 많이 하고 싶다.

I want to read a lot of books during my vacation.

Is Korean SVO or SOV?

Korean is a SOV language, meaning the basic language structure is:

Subject + Object + Verb

Japanese, Mongolian and Turkish are also SOV languages for example.

English is a SVO language: subject + verb + object

—

Learn more about Korean sentence structure here.

How to make negative sentences in Korean?

Expressing ‘not’. For verbs and adjectives. Add ‘안’ or ‘-지 않아요’ in front of them.

Example: 지수는 초콜릿을 좋아하지 않아요.

Expressing ‘cannot’. For verbs only. Add 못’or ‘-지 못해요’ in front of the verb.

Example: 저는 수영을 못 해요.

Expressing ‘do not know’. The word ‘to know’ in Korean is ‘알다’. However, we rarely apply the methods of case 1 and case 2 for this word. Instead, we use the word ‘몰라요’

Example: 나는 그녀의 연락처를 몰라요.

Expressing ‘not have’. When we make a sentence to talk about the absence of something, we would use ‘없어요’.

Example: 공원에 사람들이 거의 없어요.

—

Learn more about the negative form in Korean here.

What are some Korean sentence structures?

Here are the 3 most basic Korean sentence structure:

#1 || Subject + Verb

#2 || Subject + Object + Verb

#3 || Subject + Noun / Adjective

—

Learn more about Korean sentence structure here.