How to say "less" in Japanese (I want to do X less)


How to say that I (or someone else) wants to do something less (for example I
want to sleep less) in Japanese? What about I want to have less of something?
(For example I want to eat less, or I want to have fewer problems.)




Literal translations such as 「(もっと/より)少なく + verb + したい」 would sound
unnatural... There would be several ways to say that, but off the top of my
head right now, I think you could probably use 「～を少なくしたい」 or 「～を減らしたい」, as in:

> 睡眠時間/寝る時間を減らしたい。  
>  睡眠時間/寝る時間を少なくしたい。  
>  I want to sleep less. (lit. I want to decrease sleeping time.)
>
> 食べる量を減らしたい。  
>  食べる量を少なくしたい。  
>  I want to eat less. (lit. I want to decrease eating amount.)
>
> 問題を減らしたい。  
>  問題を少なくしたい。  
>  I want to have fewer problems. (lit. I want to decrease problems.)




Literal translations such as 「(もっと/より)少なく + verb + したい」 would sound
unnatural... There would be several ways to say that, but off the top of my
head right now, I think you could probably use 「～を少なくしたい」 or 「～を減らしたい」, as in:

> 睡眠時間/寝る時間を減らしたい。  
>  睡眠時間/寝る時間を少なくしたい。  
>  I want to sleep less. (lit. I want to decrease sleeping time.)
>
> 食べる量を減らしたい。  
>  食べる量を少なくしたい。  
>  I want to eat less. (lit. I want to decrease eating amount.)
>
> 問題を減らしたい。  
>  問題を少なくしたい。  
>  I want to have fewer problems. (lit. I want to decrease problems.)

