Expressing want
I get slightly annoyed when I see and hear Japanese people Anglicize their language. The sentence 'I drink water' (僕は水を飲む boku-wa mizu-wo nomu) mirrors its English equivalent perfectly. Direct objects are direct objects, subjects are subjects, and verbs are verbs.
Add to the mix, however, 'I want to drink water' (僕は水が飲みたい boku-wa mizu-ga nomitai) and things get tricky. 'Want' as a verb does not exist in Japanese. Instead the root verb (to drink) is modified so that want is indicated. This change results in the destruction of that English-Japanese equivalence. What was the direct object (the water) becomes the subject; and the verb (to drink) becomes an adjective. There's no good way to literally translate it into English, but an attempt is 'The water is wanted to be drunk.' (The Japanese has no element of the passive voice in it.) It's actually pretty neat.
Background finished, I return to my complaint. Students, friends, and colleagues often will maintain some parity with the original 'I drink water' sentence. That is to say that the water remains the direct object, but the verb still transforms into its adjectival structure. It becomes 水を飲みたい (mizu-wo nomitai). And I feel like a tool when I speak in ostensibly correct Japanese.
Post Script: I just asked a student his thoughts on the matter, and he said both were correct. He then pulled aside a teacher who had just entered the staff room, and she too said they were correct, and then, realizing the difference between direct objects and subjects, backtracked. She pulled a 'Technically speaking...' Then she added more detail. In the instance of wanting to drink water, the water qua direct object is used when selecting water over some other option.
When I think of what originally inspired this post, and what it later became, I cannot help but laugh.
Add to the mix, however, 'I want to drink water' (僕は水が飲みたい boku-wa mizu-ga nomitai) and things get tricky. 'Want' as a verb does not exist in Japanese. Instead the root verb (to drink) is modified so that want is indicated. This change results in the destruction of that English-Japanese equivalence. What was the direct object (the water) becomes the subject; and the verb (to drink) becomes an adjective. There's no good way to literally translate it into English, but an attempt is 'The water is wanted to be drunk.' (The Japanese has no element of the passive voice in it.) It's actually pretty neat.
Background finished, I return to my complaint. Students, friends, and colleagues often will maintain some parity with the original 'I drink water' sentence. That is to say that the water remains the direct object, but the verb still transforms into its adjectival structure. It becomes 水を飲みたい (mizu-wo nomitai). And I feel like a tool when I speak in ostensibly correct Japanese.
Post Script: I just asked a student his thoughts on the matter, and he said both were correct. He then pulled aside a teacher who had just entered the staff room, and she too said they were correct, and then, realizing the difference between direct objects and subjects, backtracked. She pulled a 'Technically speaking...' Then she added more detail. In the instance of wanting to drink water, the water qua direct object is used when selecting water over some other option.
When I think of what originally inspired this post, and what it later became, I cannot help but laugh.