ほしい ー want (something) – いadjective
Positive sentence – が ほしい (I want X)
Negative sentence – は ほしくない (I don’t want X)
いい漢字の本がほしいです
I want a good kanji dictionary
When I was a child, I wanted a Nintendo Wii.
子供の時、ニンテンドーWiiがほしかったです。
I don’t have much desire for money.
お金はあまりほしくないです。
I want to eat – 食べ＋たい stem form + たい
Not “食べるほしい”ー この間違いをよく聞きます。
（１）I want a chocolate. チョコレートがほしい
（２）I want to eat chocolate. チョコレートを食べたい
＜Quotation 引用>
花子さんは、MacBook Proが欲しい、と言っています。
Hanako says she wants a MacBook Pro.
花子さんは、MacBook Pro は欲しくないでしょう。
Probably Hanako does not want a MacBook Pro.
Japanese tend to guess what people are thinking, so it might be wrong.
For example this is extreme example though,
We once had a mean Japanese general manager.
When we needed his stamp, Japanese hanko on our report and when he did not like the reports, he expressed his anger by stamping hanko wrong way. Not straight. So all Japanese employees understood he did not like it. He expects us to understand the meaning. Does your boss act like that?
Aiko says she wants goldfish.
愛子さんは、金魚がほしい、と言っています。
Probably Aiko wants to eat chocolate.
愛子さんは、チョコレートを食べたいでしょう。
＜たがる＞ – want to
We have learned the verb たがる which replaces たい
Stem form + たがる（たがっています ) It conjugates as an u-verb and is usually used in the form たがっている
ダニエルさんは日本語を習いたがっています。
(I understand that) Daniel wants to study Japanese.
Jennifer wants to visit Japan.
ジェニファーさんは、日本に行きたがっています。
Taro wants to see fireworks.
太郎さんは、花火を見たがっています。
＜ほしがる＞ ー want
ほしい too has a special verb counterpart, ほしがる. It conjugates as an u-verb and is usually used in the form ほしがっている, to describe an observation that the speaker currently thinks holds true. Unlike ほしい, the particle after the object of desire is を。
ダニエルさんjは、任天堂Switchをほしがっています。
Daniel wants a Nintendo Switch.
To me. ほしがっている sounds lovely like a cute girl wants to have something and begging to get it. It depends though.
Also, it sounds like it’s not so easy to get it.
Sayaka wants to have a puppy.
さやかちゃんは子犬を欲しがっています。