Reporting on the emotions of another person in a relative clause?


I just yet made the sentence:

> その場所の日本人はさすがに外国人が日本語を学ぶのを手伝いたがる人なんだ。

I used “〜たがる” instead of “〜たい” on the rule that “〜たい” can only be used to ask,
conditionals, or in cases where one can report with absolute confidence on the
desires of something, such as one's own desires or in the capacity of the
omniscient narrator of a story. I do this intuitively in main clauses without
thinking much of it, but I'm not entirely sure of how this works in relative
clauses. For some reason:

> あの人は手伝いたい。

seems wrong to me over “〜たがる”, yet:

> あの人は手伝いたい人だ。

doesn't feel wrong to me, but I'm not sure how correct this intuition is. But
for what it's worth “手伝いたがる人” when searching for it is exceedingly rare
compared to “手伝いたい人” suggesting that it might not be necessary.




As suggested by the search results, you can safely say 手伝いたい人 because you
already know about their willingness to help. Saying 手伝いたがる人 is also perfectly
correct, but it conveys an extra nuance of "(externally) showing the
willingness to help".

Saying this verbosely is harmless at least in this case, but depending on the
context, it may sometimes imply their help is unwelcome. For example,
お手伝いをしたい子供 is neutral, but お手伝いをしたがる子供 may tend to refer to children who
insist on helping even when it's not necessary.




As suggested by the search results, you can safely say 手伝いたい人 because you
already know about their willingness to help. Saying 手伝いたがる人 is also perfectly
correct, but it conveys an extra nuance of "(externally) showing the
willingness to help".

Saying this verbosely is harmless at least in this case, but depending on the
context, it may sometimes imply their help is unwelcome. For example,
お手伝いをしたい子供 is neutral, but お手伝いをしたがる子供 may tend to refer to children who
insist on helping even when it's not necessary.

