<p>Quite a few languages have desiderative as an affix within the verbal system (whether it is analysed as an affix or a full mood being irrelevant here). Japanese and Sanskrit do, for example. It is fairly common (as one would expect) for agglutinating or polysynthetic languages to have one such as Quechua, Finno-Ugric or Turkic languages. It is by no mean universal for these languages: while Hungarian has such a suffix Finnish (and I believe Estonian) lacks it.</p>
<p>Desiderative construction otherwise tend (again not unexpectedly) to be mediated via an auxiliary verb (in Nahuatl, that verb is one of a couple that can be directly integrated into other verbs).</p>
<p>Note that desiderative applies (typically) only to the <em>subject</em>. That is, a form like &quot;I want X to Y&quot; is <em>not</em> a desiderative per se. More accurately, in most language with derivational desiderative affixes, these affixes do not have a &quot;separate&quot; argument structure the way an auxiliary verb an have, so they cannot insert an additional argument. Indeed in Nahuatl, that is exactly what you'll see:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ticchīhuaznequi (<em>You want to do it</em>)</p>
<p>Ticnequi nicchīhuaz (<em>You want me to do it</em>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I have not found an easy way to search for information about the three-argument version (&quot;I want X to Y&quot;) cross-linguistically, but I'd wager it tends to be formed with some form of Optative or Subjunctive structure.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-11T13:59:34.927Z
2020-07-11T13:59:34.927Z
Circeus
<p>English uses an independent verb to encode desiderative meaning, namely <em>want</em>. It normally takes an infinitival complement, although I can take a direct object as well if the subject of the infinitival clause is not the same as <em>want</em>'s subject.</p>
<pre><code>I want to swim tomorrow.
</code></pre>
<p>and</p>
<pre><code>I want you to swim tomorrow.
</code></pre>
<p>However, there are some limits to its flexibility in English. It cannot take a dependent clause headed by <em>that</em>.</p>
<pre><code>*I want that I find a yellow pencil soon.
</code></pre>
<p>Some languages use a verb similar to <em>want</em> in English, and others use dedicated verb morphology to encode the same meaning. I can't think of any natural languages that use a strategy for encoding the meaning of <em>want (Y) to X</em> that isn't one of those two.</p>
<p>What are some alternative constructions for expressing desiderative meaning, particularly those unattested in natural languages?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-11T08:35:06.243Z
`*I want that I find a yellow pencil soon.*` — in Russian it is possible.
USERNAME GOES HERE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-11T08:58:28.383Z
I didn't mean to rule out that possibility in languages other than English. Fixed.
Greg Nisbet
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-11T08:59:45.163Z
I understood you, I just noted that in Russian it is possible.
USERNAME GOES HERE
<unnatural-features><tense-aspect-mood>
Alternatives to independent verbs for encoding desiderative meaning
# Alternatives to independent verbs for encoding desiderative meaning

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-11)

English uses an independent verb to encode desiderative meaning, namely want. It normally takes an infinitival complement, although I can take a direct object as well if the subject of the infinitival clause is not the same as want's subject.
I want to swim tomorrow.

and
I want you to swim tomorrow.

However, there are some limits to its flexibility in English. It cannot take a dependent clause headed by that.
*I want that I find a yellow pencil soon.

Some languages use a verb similar to want in English, and others use dedicated verb morphology to encode the same meaning. I can't think of any natural languages that use a strategy for encoding the meaning of want (Y) to X that isn't one of those two.
What are some alternative constructions for expressing desiderative meaning, particularly those unattested in natural languages?

**Tags:** unnatural-features, tense-aspect-mood
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: `*I want that I find a yellow pencil soon.*` — in Russian it is possible.  
> **username_0**: I didn't mean to rule out that possibility in languages other than English. Fixed.  
> **username_1**: I understood you, I just noted that in Russian it is possible.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-07-11. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Quite a few languages have desiderative as an affix within the verbal system (whether it is analysed as an affix or a full mood being irrelevant here). Japanese and Sanskrit do, for example. It is fairly common (as one would expect) for agglutinating or polysynthetic languages to have one such as Quechua, Finno-Ugric or Turkic languages. It is by no mean universal for these languages: while Hungarian has such a suffix Finnish (and I believe Estonian) lacks it.

Desiderative construction otherwise tend (again not unexpectedly) to be mediated via an auxiliary verb (in Nahuatl, that verb is one of a couple that can be directly integrated into other verbs).

Note that desiderative applies (typically) only to the *subject*. That is, a form like "I want X to Y" is *not* a desiderative per se. More accurately, in most language with derivational desiderative affixes, these affixes do not have a "separate" argument structure the way an auxiliary verb an have, so they cannot insert an additional argument. Indeed in Nahuatl, that is exactly what you'll see:

> Ticchīhuaznequi (*You want to do it*)
>
> Ticnequi nicchīhuaz (*You want me to do it*)

I have not found an easy way to search for information about the three-argument version ("I want X to Y") cross-linguistically, but I'd wager it tends to be formed with some form of Optative or Subjunctive structure.


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