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So a normal way to say "Bob wants a burger" might be:

```

    bobu-wa     hanbaaga-ga         hoshii
    bob-TOPIC   burger-NOMINATIVE   is_wanted
    as for Bob, a burger is wanted
    
```

_[I'm only vaguely familiar with the standard conventions for grammatical
glossing; feel free to edit that if you want.]_

But `wa` is really just the topic marker.  
Technically, it doesn't actually explicitly establish the grammatical role of
`bobu` within the... hm, "predicate structure" of `hoshii`.

Is it _possible_ to actually explicitly connect `bobu` to `hoshii` like that?  
(Neverminding the question of a context where it would sound natural.)

Maybe something like this?:

```

    bobu-ni     hanbaaga-ga         hoshii
    bob-DATIVE  burger-NOMINATIVE   is_wanted
    a burger is wanted by Bob
    
```

(Or maybe with a different order like:

```

    hanbaaga-ga         bobu-ni     hoshii
    burger-NOMINATIVE   bob-DATIVE  is_wanted
    
```

if that sounds better. Not the main point.)

**Or maybe another way of asking this question:**

If someone told you:

```

    hanbaaga-ga         hoshii
    burger-NOMINATIVE   is_wanted
    a burger is wanted (by him)
    
```

They're assuming you understand from context who the implicit "wanter" is.  
But if it's actually not clear, and you have to ask:

```

    "*Who* wants a burger?"
    
```

then how do you do that?

(In a complete sentence!  
Of course pragmatically you would prolly just use a fragment like "dare?" or
something,  
but there must be an _implied_ complete sentence,  
right?)

I assume this would be wrong:

```

    dare-wa     hanbaaga-ga         hoshii      ka?
    who-topic   burger-NOMINATIVE   is_wanted   QUESTION
    as for who, a burger is wanted?
    
```

So how about this?:

```

    dare-ni     hanbaaga-ga         hoshii      ka?
    dare-DATIVE burger-NOMINATIVE   is_wanted   QUESTION
    by who is a burger wanted?
    
```

(Or, again, flip the order:

```

    hanbaaga-ga         dare-ni     hoshii      ka?
    burger-NOMINATIVE   dare-DATIVE is_wanted   QUESTION
    a burger is wanted by who?
    
```

if that sounds better.)
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2015-07-29T02:12:48.867
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2015-07-29T08:14:55.133
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question
grammar particles particle-に particle-は particle-が
Can you transform "[wanter]-wa [wanted thing]-ga hoshii" to "[wanter]-ni [wanted thing]-ga hoshii"? Or anything else?
Maybe the particle you chose, に (ni), is not quite right.

ボブにハンバーガーが欲しい (bobu-ni hanbaaga-ga hoshii) and ハンバーガーがボブに欲しい (hanbaaga-ga
bobu-ni hoshii) would mean something like "( _I_ ) want a burger for Bob".
It's _I_ or someone else, not _Bob_ , that is the implicit wanter, and the
wanter likes to give the burger to Bob. Of course we usually don't say things
like this often.

If you really like to avoid this topic marker, you can just use the transitive
verb 欲する (hossuru), which grammatically resembles the English word _want_.
ボブがハンバーガーを欲する (bobu-ga hanbaaga-wo hossuru) semantically means "Bob wants a
burger", although this is uncommon and funny especially in conversations.
(Perhaps this would _feel_ like "Bob is in want of a burger")

As for your second question:

  * 誰がハンバーガーが欲しいか？ (dare-ga hanbaaga-ga hosii ka?)  
Who wants a burger? (who is the wanter?)

(dare- **wa** is virtually never used, so I changed that part)

  * 誰にハンバーガーが欲しいか？ (dare-ni hanbaaga-ga hosii ka?)  
ハンバーガーが誰に欲しいか？ (hanbaaga-ga dare-ni hosii ka?)  
For whom do (you) want a burger? (assuming _you_ want to give a burger to
someone, to whom?)

Again it's _you_ , or anyone inferred from the context, who is the implicit
wanter in the latter example.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-29T03:06:11.757
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2015-07-29T08:14:55.133
2015-07-29T08:14:55.133
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answer
In the first place, "hanbaaga-ga" as in "hanbaaga-ga hoshii" is not the
subject. So it doesn't mean a burger is wanted.

Both the subject and the object of "hoshii" are indicated by ga, in other
words, when you express "bobu-wa hanbaaga-ga hoshii" without any topicalized
elements, it becomes "bobu- **ga** hanbaaga-ga hoshii". So, "who wants a
burger" can be expressed as "dare-ga hanbaaga-ga hoshii?" or "hanbaaga-ga
hoshii-no-wa dare desuka?".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-29T03:12:11.480
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answer