~고 싶-

싶- is an auxiliary verb with two unusual properties:

• It never appears as a main verb (you cannot just say 싶어요 on its own — it has to follow another verb’s ~고 form).
• Its meaning is fairly opaque in contemporary Korean. The original sense was “to think to oneself” (Kim 2010), and 싶- now appears in expressions of both desire (~고 싶-) and inference (e.g., ~(으)ㄴ가 싶- “wonder if…”).

The ~고 싶- pattern specifically expresses want, wish, or desire to do something. It attaches to an action-verb stem with the connective ~고, and 싶- itself behaves as a descriptive verb (so it conjugates as 싶어요, 싶었어요, 싶은, 싶을 텐데, etc.).

The person restriction — 1st and 2nd person only.

This is the load-bearing constraint: ~고 싶- is restricted to the speaker (1st person) or the addressee (2nd person):

• 한국에 가고 싶어요. (I want to go to Korea — 1st person)
• 한국에 가고 싶어요? (Do you want to go to Korea? — 2nd person)
• ✗ 친구가 한국에 가고 싶어요. (Wrong — 친구 is 3rd person)

The reason: in Korean, you have direct access to your own desires and emotions, and conventional access to your hearer’s (you can ask them). You do not have direct access to a third person’s inner state — you can only infer or report it.

For 3rd person → use ~고 싶어하-:

When the subject is someone other than the speaker or hearer, swap 싶- for 싶어하-:

• 친구가 한국에 가고 싶어해요. (My friend wants to go to Korea.)
• 동생이 새 자전거를 사고 싶어해요. (My younger sibling wants to buy a new bicycle.)
• 편지를 쓰고 싶어해요. ((He/she/they) wants to write a letter.)

This sits in a broader morphological pattern (§4.4.3.2): when describing the emotions or desires of others, certain descriptive verbs systematically convert to processive (action) verbs by adding ~어하-:

• 슬프다 (to be sad) → 슬퍼하다 (to be sad / to act sad — about another)
• 기쁘다 (to be happy) → 기뻐하다
• 무섭다 (to be afraid) → 무서워하다
• 싶다 (to want) → 싶어하다

The transformation has a clear logic: someone being sad is a state (descriptive); your observation that they are sad is an event you witness from the outside (processive). 싶다 → 싶어하다 fits the same pattern.

How to attach it:

• Action verb stem + ~고 싶다 (1st/2nd person)

  • 가다 → 가고 싶다
  • 먹다 → 먹고 싶다
  • 보다 → 보고 싶다
  • 되다 → 되고 싶다

• Action verb stem + ~고 싶어하다 (3rd person)

  • 가다 → 가고 싶어하다
  • 먹다 → 먹고 싶어하다

• Polite form: ~고 싶어요 / ~고 싶어해요

• Past tense: ~고 싶었어요 / ~고 싶어했어요

  • 가고 싶었어요 (I wanted to go)
  • 친구가 가고 싶어했어요 (my friend wanted to go)

Action verbs only. ~고 싶다 attaches to action verbs, not to descriptive verbs. You cannot say 예쁘고 싶다 — “want to be pretty” doesn’t take this construction. (Express such ideas with 되고 싶다: 예뻐지고 싶어요 “I want to become pretty,” using the inchoative ~아/어지다.)

The 보고 싶다 idiom — “miss someone.”

Literally “I want to see (you),” but used idiomatically as “I miss (you/someone)”. 어머니를 보고 싶어요 — “I want to see my mother / I miss my mother.” 보고 싶어요 to a friend or partner is the standard way to say “I miss you.”

The contracted ~고픈 form (non-standard).

In modifier constructions (Chapter 8), ~고 싶- sometimes contracts to ~고픈 rather than the full ~고 싶은:

• 하고픈 말이 있습니다. (I have something I’d like to say.)

This is not considered standard but does occur — typically in writing or expressive speech (song lyrics, slogans, literary contexts). The standard modifier form is ~고 싶은 (1st/2nd) or ~고 싶어하는 (3rd):

• 하고 싶은 말이 있어요. (I have something I want to say.) — standard
• 친구가 하고 싶어하는 말이 있어요. (My friend has something they want to say.) — standard

Tip: Three things to keep straight: (1) person: 1st/2nd → 싶다, 3rd → 싶어하다 — this is the rule; (2) action verbs only — for “want to be X,” use 되고 싶다 or ~아/어지고 싶다; (3) 보고 싶다 = “miss” is a near-universal idiom, not a literal “want to see.” Past-tense ~고 싶었어요 (“I wanted to”) is one of the most useful forms for narration: 가고 싶었는데 못 갔어요 (“I wanted to go but couldn’t”) is a workhorse construction.