35952
I've learned that です means something like the state of being, or close to the
"be" verb.

Recently I found the following phrase: 犬がほしいです。 Why does it end with です if I
am saying that "I want a dog"? (the verb is "want").
CC BY-SA 4.0
2016-06-15T18:23:05.053
35950
2022-02-04T03:58:30.140
2022-02-04T03:58:30.140
5010
14165
question
grammar copula
です after some verbs (ほしいです)
## Short answer:

It's a politeness marker.

* * *

## Long answer:

You can't think of Japanese in terms of English.

In the English sentence _I want a dog_ , it's true that _want_ is a verb. But
in the Japanese sentence 犬{いぬ}がほしいです, the word ほしい is an adjective, not a
verb. Even though you can express the same basic idea in both languages, the
grammar to do so is quite different.

* * *

### Why do we use _be_ with adjectives in English?

In Standard English, we need a verb like _be_ with nouns and adjectives,
because nouns and adjectives can't form predicates on their own:

> 1a. *She silly. ← ungrammatical  
>  1b. She **is** silly. ← OK
>
> 2a. *She a programmer. ← ungrammatical  
>  2b. She **is** a programmer. ← OK

We need a verb like _be_. Why? It shows tense and subject–verb agreement,
something nouns and adjectives can't do. The basic meaning comes from the noun
or adjective, but we need _be_ there for grammatical reasons.

* * *

### Adjectives can form predicates in Japanese

In Japanese, there's no need for a verb like _be_ to show tense on adjectives.
Adjectives can indicate tense all on their own, using the endings -い and -かった:

> 3a. 美{うつく}し **い** 'is beautiful'  
>  3b. 美{うつく}し **かった** 'was beautiful'

Each of these is a complete predicate on its own without です. However, as
you've noticed, people sometimes do add です:

> 4a. 美{うつく}しい **です** 'is beautiful (polite)'  
>  4b. 美{うつく}しかった **です** 'was beautiful (polite)'

In this case, です doesn't have its usual grammatical function. Instead, it's
functioning as a politeness marker. Note that tense is marked on the adjective
with -い or -かった, so です doesn't change form to でした in 4b.

In other words, the _is_ or _was_ meaning is carried by the -い or -かった ending
on the adjective. The です part serves only to make the predicate polite.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-15T18:58:52.417
35951
2016-06-16T13:06:35.137
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
35950
answer
ほしい isn't a verb, it's an adjective. You can think of it like the English word
"wanted"or "desired". So, a ほしいもの is a wanted or desired thing.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-15T21:52:20.720
35952
2016-06-15T21:52:20.720
75
35950
answer