"I want something to drink."

Translation: 飲み物が欲しいです。

[hE4S2]

~ほしい expresses your own desire for some object, intangible outcome to someone else. 3 keywords: Your own desire, object, and a listener

~ stem of ます + たい form means you or someone else like to do some action. 2 Keywords: you / others, and action

こうちゃがほしいです

I like to have [ some ] tea OR
I want [ some ] tea

こうちゃをのみたいです
I want to drink tea

車がほしいです
I like to have a car OR I want a car

車を運転したいです I want to drive a car

Note: ~ほしい can only be used by you to describe yourself, it cannot be used to describe any 2nd person, as it will need a different grammar structure

Stem of ます + たい form can be used either way for yourself to describe yourself, or others, or the other way round, does not need any special grammar

[AaronSmart3]

のみもの is essentially "drinking"+"thing", the same way 食べもの (food) is "eating"+"thing"

[martinmyth]

Thanks that really helped

[GuilesTheme]

So 飲み物 refers to any ingestible liquid?

[skao76]

I thought it would have been 何かのみたいです。

[hE4S2]

たい form refers to actions that you want to do, ~ ほしい refers to physical things or intangible objects or outcomes that you desire

[ChiErry]

何かのみたい sounds better.
何か飲み物がほしい is also good.

Duo has forgot to translate "something" as 何か

[sukouto]

I think that would translate to "I want to drink something"

[Snailwood]

my limited Japanese learning so far makes me think this would be translated as "I want a drink", but it's translated as "I want something to drink". am I missing something?

[hE4S2]

Duo has mistranslated this, the closest sentence would be "I like to have something to drink", since "I like to have a drink" in some cultures or social environments, it would mean you want an alcoholic drink like wine or beer.

Saying "I want ~" may mean similarly, but does not convey the original Japanese meaning of the unspoken understanding that the listener has the option of denying the speaker's request for whatever reason [ politely, of course ] and the speaker himself is mentally ready to have his request denied without hard feelings on both sides

[EricPooley]

Better English would be "I want a beverage."

[JakeBakewe]

Are が and は not interchangeable here?

[jocomo]

Why is the です required?

[Zachary548013]

It let me leave it off.

[Yoshiko47]

yup, i thought I'd test it, and it accepted the sentence without です.

[rosythorn]

It shouldn't be. ほしいです。is very formal,

[theancientchild]

Is there a reason "おのみものがほしいです" is wrong? Or has it just not been added as a valid answer?

[OblastOrm]

"何か飲みたい " is the first translation that popped into my head, surely that is right?

[sukouto]

I think that would translate to "I want to drink something"

[jhjhjkskhdks]

Isn't it more correct to say: "何かを飲むのが欲しいです"？

[EricPooley]

I think that would translate as "I want to be drinking something."

Perhaps 「何かを飲む物が欲しいです。」

[jhjhjkskhdks]

I see. Thanks!

[EricPooley]

Is there a way in Japanese to say something along the lines of "I want something for the purpose of drinking it." as that is a lot closer to what the given English phrase means than "I want a beverage." is.

[Sashapwn]

me irl

[tadpole17]

I would like/want a drink-thing, I want something to drink.

[Amy21991]

How do you say "I'm thirsty"?

[TyrantRC]

「喉が渇いた」or「のどカラカラ」

喉【のど】、渇く【かわく】

[Dahai69790]

”飲みたい。”？

[angel_campoverde]

飲み物を欲しいです

Is not accepted, but the を vs が implies that you emphasize different things.

Don't give me cookies, I want a A DRINK. Should use を

I am thirsty, I WANT a drink. Should use が

However we do not know the context here, and I think both should be acceptable.

[Arukajoe]

ほしい means wish, really it should be ください

[KylieWalke11]

No it doesn't, it expresses want. Saying please afterwards doesnt make sense

[PeteGrass]

Kudasai means 'please give me' as well as just 'please' for anyone else reading this.