# хотелось бы + verb?  noun?



## macdevster

Can *хотелось бы* be used with both nouns and verbs?

Мне хотелось бы купить эти перчатки.
Мне хотелось бы немножко фруктов.

Thanks in advance!


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## rusita preciosa

macdevster said:


> Мне хотелось бы купить эти перчатки.
> Мне хотелось бы немножко фруктов.


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## Ptak

Yes, it can.


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## macdevster

Ah, and such quick replies.  I love WordReference.  Thanks so much!


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## macdevster

Тебе хотелось бы банан?
Тебе хотелся бы банан?

Does *хотелось* have to agree with the object that one would like?


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## Ptak

macdevster said:


> Тебе хотелось бы банан?
> Тебе хотелся бы банан?


"Хочешь банан?" is a more natural way to say that though.


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## rusita preciosa

macdevster said:


> Тебе хотелось бы банан*a*?


I agree with Ptak, except I would put *банан* in genitive.
Overall, the sentence is OK for a grammar exercise, but we don't really talk like this. 
*ты хочешь банан?* (all of it)
*ты хочешь бананa?* (some of it)
would be more common.


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## rusita preciosa

I just thought of something, may be other foreros can expand on that... I do not know why, but somehow it seems like *хотелось бы* calls for a certain amount of something, otherwise it should have a verb:

*тебе хотелось бы бананa?* (some of it)
but 
*тебе хотелось бы съесть банан?* (all of it, needs a verb)
whereas
*тебе хотелось бы банан?*  is awkward in my opinion


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## TheGist

rusita preciosa said:


> I just thought of something, may be other foreros can expand on that... I do not know why, but somehow it seems like *хотелось бы* calls for a portion of something, otherwise it should have a verb:
> 
> *тебе хотелось бы бананa?* (some of it)
> but
> *тебе хотелось бы съесть банан?* (all of it, needs a verb)



No, I don't think that's true.

"Тебе хотелось бы мороженого?" doesn't mean that I'm asking whether you want a part of my ice cream. 
It doesn't imply any parts. And the verb doesn't change anything.

However, genitive case can imply a portion. But I don't think it's the case here.


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## rusita preciosa

Gist,
I didn't understand the point of your reply (other than that "portion" was not a good choice of word, it's a good point and I will fix that).

What do you disagree with?


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## TheGist

rusita preciosa said:


> Gist,
> I didn't understand the point of your reply



You wrote:


rusita preciosa said:


> I do not know why, but somehow it seems like хотелось бы calls for a portion of something, otherwise it should have a verb:



So I replied that I don't think that "хотелось бы calls for a portion", that is, I don't feel that "portion" or "part" is being meant when this phrase is used.
You wrote:


rusita preciosa said:


> тебе хотелось бы бананa? (some of it)
> but
> тебе хотелось бы съесть банан? (all of it, needs a verb)


I don't think that "some of banana" is meant here. But, on the other hand, the whole sentence sounds unnatural, especially with the word " банан" in it (I don't know why, but other words like "фрукты"  seem to fit better here  )

But, on the second thought, yes, it seems to refer to *a part of something* sometimes. But I think the culprit is the *genetive case*, not the phrase "хотелось бы" itself.
"Ты хочешь пирог?" (Do you want a pie?)
"Ты хочешь пирога?" (Do you want some pie? = a part of it?) But this difference is very slight. In my opinion, it rarely comes to the mind of a Russian speaker.


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## rusita preciosa

That wasn't at all the point of my post. My post was specifically about how to use *хотелось бы*. 
I'm still interested in foreros' opinions.


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## TheGist

rusita preciosa said:


> That wasn't at all the point of my post. My post was specifically about how to use *хотелось бы*.
> I'm still interested in foreros' opinions.


Now I don't understand what your point is!!! Can you please explain what exactly you wanted to make clear about the use of "хотелось бы".


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## rusita preciosa

*ты хочешь банан?* – no problem, sounds good
*ты хочешь бананa?* – no problem, sounds good
*тебе хотелось бы бананa?* – no problem, sounds good
but
*тебе хотелось бы банан?* – sounds awkward to me (my own opinion)

If we still want to use "банан" with “хотелось бы”, what should we do? – use a verb:
*тебе хотелось бы **съесть** банан?*


All that is my own opinion and I was wondering if other foreros had a perspective.


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## Ptak

rusita preciosa said:


> *тебе хотелось бы бананa?* – no problem, sounds good
> but
> *тебе хотелось бы банан?* – sounds awkward to me (my own opinion)


"Тебе хотелось бы банан" and "Тебе хотелось бы банана" both sound equally awkward to me. That's not the natural way we Russians express the idea in our everyday language.


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## polysonic

> "Тебе хотелось бы банан" and "Тебе хотелось бы банана" both sound equally awkward to me. That's not the natural way we Russians express the idea in our everyday language.


It is just because Russians eat porridge or apples rather than bananas... )))
Well, in fact Тебе хотелось бы каши? Тебе хотелось бы мороженого? sounds quite good!

And also I agree with *rusita preciosa - *the verb form хотелось бы needs the genitive case which has a _partitive_ meaning here. Partitive meaning doesn't always mean a part of an object, sometimes it means that the object is indefinite.


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## Ptak

polysonic said:


> It is just because Russians eat porridge or apples rather than bananas... )))
> Well, in fact Тебе хотелось бы каши? Тебе хотелось бы мороженого? sounds quite good!


It's not a correct comparison. Каша or мороженое are not of the same substance as a banana or an apple. They're not a whole; they're pulp.

Then again, an apple, or porridge, or an ice-cream have nothing to do with the phrasing. We don't say "тебе хотелось бы яблока" or "тебе хотелось бы каши" either.
_Would you like some porridge? - Каши хочешь? / Хочешь каши?_ That's all.

So, I disagree that "Тебе хотелось бы каши? Тебе хотелось бы мороженого? sounds quite good".


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## rusita preciosa

Ptak said:


> We don't say "тебе хотелось бы яблока" or "тебе хотелось бы каши" either.


I do not see anything grammatically wrong with these, as opposed to *тебе хотелось бы яблокo*.
It is true though that this usage is not very common.


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## Ptak

rusita preciosa said:


> I do not see anything grammatically wrong with these


There is nothing _grammatically_ wrong about them, right. I just said that "тебе хотелось бы банан" and "хотелось бы банана" both _sound_ quite awkward.


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## polysonic

> They're not a whole; they're pulp.


Yes, and that proves that partitive meaning is actual here. Because partitive is used quite more with substances and all that stuff. That is why *тебе хотелось бы банана? *sounds a bit strange (however I can imagine a nice context), but it is OK, when we say *тебе хотелось бы бананов?* with Plural Genitive.



> We don't say "тебе хотелось бы яблока" or "тебе хотелось бы каши" either.


Why not? If you agree that we can say *Мне хотелось бы немножко фруктов.*, then why can't we ask a question? *Тебе хотелось бы фруктов?* Yes, I will not argue the fact that the verb хотелось бы is MUCH MORE OFTEN used with infinitives in Russian. But if we agree that it is also used with nouns, then I suspect the genitive case is more appropriate than accusative.

For example, in question: _Чего бы тебе хотелось?_ *чего*, in my opinion, is more correct than *что*.


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## Ptak

polysonic said:


> We don't say "тебе хотелось бы яблока" or "тебе хотелось бы каши" either.
> 
> 
> 
> Why not?
Click to expand...

I don't believe that in the situation where you'd be eating an apple and would want to offer some to me, you'd ask me "Тебе хотелось бы яблока?" 
I *don't believe* that you'd say that in that way!


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## cyanista

polysonic said:


> Why not? If you agree that we can say *Мне хотелось бы немножко фруктов.*, then why can't we ask a question? *Тебе хотелось бы фруктов?*



"Мне хотелось бы" expresses a tentative wish or an unreal condition  ("Мне хотелось бы немножко фруктов","Мне хотелось бы полететь на Луну"). 

I'd like to clarify that a specific wish of the type "*I'd like some fruit"* is better translated as *"Мне хочется фруктов/Хочу фруктов"*, and not as "*Мне хотелось бы немножко фруктов"*. 

The same with the questions: the specific question *"Would you like xxx?"* is idiomatically translated as *"Хочешь ххх?"* (it is also possible to use *"Будешь ххх?"*). The tentative version *"Тебе хотелось бы ххх?"* is not very well suited for something you can offer right now, especially something as mundane as food. Questions like "Тебе хотелось бы побывать в Осло/ стать знаменитым/жить вечно?" sound quite idiomatic though.


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## polysonic

> I don't believe that in the situation where you'd be eating an apple and would want to offer some to me, you'd ask me "Тебе хотелось бы яблока?"



There are many situations where subjunctive mood is used. Not only this one.
For example, imagine the situation when 2 persons are very hungry and can't get food right at the time (tourists on the mountain trekking, orphans or maybe some other situations). They are dreaming.
"Чего бы тебе сейчас хотелось?" "Не знаю, мороженого... А тебе хотелось бы мороженого?" "Ну, пожалуй, да".

Here subjunctive is used in its common meaning of irreal action.


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