食べたい
tabetai
The Japanese phrase for "I want to eat" is 食べたい (tabetai).
The phrase is used to express a personal desire to consume food.
Which one should you use?
While 食べたい is the standard informal version, adding んだ to the end to form 食べたいんだ makes the expression more conversational and emphasizes the desire to eat. For a much stronger craving or desire for food, you can use the colloquial expression めちゃめちゃ食べたい.
How does it change in a sentence?
The negative form of 食べたい is 食べたくない, which means "don't want to eat".
How do you pronounce it?
tabetai
Did you know?
- While 食べたい expresses a desire, Japanese speakers often use the phrase お腹が空いた meaning 'my stomach became empty' to signal they want to eat.
- In Japanese, you would rarely say 'i want to eat' to describe someone else's desire, such as 'he wants to eat', because using 食べたい for others can seem presumptuous or rude.
- When ordering at a restaurant, Japanese speakers rarely use 食べたい to tell the waiter what they want. Instead, they use お願いします or ください to request the item.
Examples in context
- 何か食べたい。I want to eat something.This sentence shows how to express wanting to eat something using 食べたい.Tatoeba #3635195 by tommy_san, translation #256362 by CK
- ピザ食べたい。I want to eat pizza.This sentence shows how to express wanting to eat pizza using 食べたい.Tatoeba #3635285 by tommy_san, translation #3777902 by CK
- アイス食べたい。I want to eat ice cream.This sentence shows how to express wanting to eat ice cream using 食べたい.Tatoeba #2654861 by tommy_san, translation #1370839 by TuckingFypo
- すみません、お昼ご飯を食べたいですExcuse me, I would like to have lunch.
- 明日、ラーメンを食べたいI want to eat ramen tomorrow.
- 今日は本当にお腹がすいたんだ、ご飯を食べたいんだI'm really hungry today, I want to eat some food.
- このケーキ、めちゃめちゃ食べたいI really want to eat this cake.
- これ、ばり食べたいI really want to eat this.
- 73 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Hiyori and Ren are walking home from school.
- 陽葵 Himariお腹が空いた。何か食べたい。Onaka ga suita. Nanika tabetai.I'm hungry. I want to eat something.
- 蓮 Renいいよ。何が食べたい？Ii yo. Nani ga tabetai?Sure. What do you want to eat?
- 陽葵 Himari温かいラーメンが食べたいな。Atatakai ramen ga tabetai na.I want to eat some hot ramen.
- 蓮 Renあそこの店に行こうか。Asoko no mise ni ikou ka.Shall we go to that shop over there?
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
