Desire form verbs (~たい), is there a polite form?


I was just curious if there is a way to make the ~たい form polite? for example

[code]

    戦いたい - Want to fight
    
[/code]

I was thinking possibly using the honorific form instead of the masu form
might be acceptable?

[code]

    お戦いになりたい
    
[/code]




I assume you mean the _honorific_ form, rather than the simple _polite_ form
(which can be achieved by just adding です after 戦いたい).

お戦いになりたい sounds odd in most cases, because ～たい itself is usually for a desire
_of your own_. Honorific expressions are for someone higher than you.

  * <https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/3844/5010>
  * [Can たい and たがる be used for a 1st/2nd/3rd person's desire?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/23860/5010)

The natural honorific version would be 「将軍は戦いたがっていらっしゃる」「将軍は戦いたがっておいでだ」 etc.
You can still use plain たい before other certain honorific expressions:
「将軍は戦いたいと考えていらっしゃる」, 「将軍は戦いたいと仰っている」.

As you can see in the second link above, there are cases where ～たい can be used
for 3rd party's desire. For example I think 「将軍がお戦いになりたい理由が分かりません」 (="I don't
understand the reason why General wants to fight") is not incorrect, although
I still feel this is slightly awkward.




I assume you mean the _honorific_ form, rather than the simple _polite_ form
(which can be achieved by just adding です after 戦いたい).

お戦いになりたい sounds odd in most cases, because ～たい itself is usually for a desire
_of your own_. Honorific expressions are for someone higher than you.

  * <https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/3844/5010>
  * [Can たい and たがる be used for a 1st/2nd/3rd person's desire?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/23860/5010)

The natural honorific version would be 「将軍は戦いたがっていらっしゃる」「将軍は戦いたがっておいでだ」 etc.
You can still use plain たい before other certain honorific expressions:
「将軍は戦いたいと考えていらっしゃる」, 「将軍は戦いたいと仰っている」.

As you can see in the second link above, there are cases where ～たい can be used
for 3rd party's desire. For example I think 「将軍がお戦いになりたい理由が分かりません」 (="I don't
understand the reason why General wants to fight") is not incorrect, although
I still feel this is slightly awkward.

