てもらう and てほしい timeline
While talking about てもらう, my teacher asked me what’s the difference between てほしい 🤔
I was mentioning that てほしい sounds demanding if you’re asking someone to do something for you. If it’s asking someone for a favor and I’d use てもらう. This feels more like てほしい vs. てもらいたい instead.
We talked more on the aspect of “timeline of events happening”.
Basics
- てほしい – Expresses my wish/desire
- てもらう – Focuses on me “receiving” the favor
Timeline of events
- Nothing has happened yet, it’s only me hoping in my head
お母さんに今日の夕ご飯を作ってほしい。- Asking mom for the favor
お母さん、今日の夕ご飯を作ってもらえますか？- After mom agrees, I tell my brother that mom will be making dinner
お母さんに今日の夕ご飯を作ってもらいます。Notes
If still would like someone to do something with てほしい, usually people will add んですが to make it softer
レポートを確認してほしいんですが…
Today during class I made the mistake of saying:
We want to go home and used 帰って欲しい
But this actually will mean “I want someone else to go home,” so looking back at my notes て欲しい is used to express a desire for someone other than the speaker to perform an action.
Remembering things is harrrd 😭