мне хочацца

Impersonal Wanting and Feeling with -ся

Level 4Sounds Like mne hočacca

Мне хочацца + infinitive means I feel like: Мне хочацца спаць (I feel sleepy). The person is in the dative.

How It Works

Хочацца. Я хачу (see хацець) states what you want. Мне хочацца describes a wish or mood that comes over you. It is softer and less deliberate:

  • Мне хочацца спаць. (I feel sleepy.)
  • Сёння мне зусім не хочацца працаваць. (I really don't feel like working today.)
  • Мне хочацца чаго-небудзь салодкага. (I feel like something sweet.) A noun after хочацца is usually in the genitive.

Form. The person is in the dative: мне, табе, яму, ёй, нам, вам, ім, or a noun such as дзецям. The verb does not agree with anyone. It stays in the third-person singular in the present (хочацца) and takes the neuter form in the past (хацелася): Мне хацелася плакаць. (I felt like crying.)

Cannot get into it. With не, many ordinary verbs are used the same way. The sentence says that something is not happening for you, although you are not refusing it:

  • Мне не спіцца. (I can't sleep.)
  • Яму не сядзіцца дома. (He can't sit still at home.)
  • Сёння мне не працуецца. (I just can't get any work done today.)

Without не, the question Як табе спалася? (How did you sleep?) works the same way.

Other common verbs. Мне здаецца (it seems to me) and мне не верыцца (I can hardly believe) also put the person in the dative. These are part of the wider family of -ся meanings and of impersonal verbs.

Always -ся. Belarusian keeps -ся in the past too: мне не спалася, never the Russian -лось.

Examples (6)

  1. Мне хочацца спаць.

    I feel sleepy.

    Word by Word: To-me wants-itself to-sleep.

  2. Сёння мне зусім не хочацца працаваць.

    I really don't feel like working today.

    Word by Word: Today to-me at-all not wants-itself to-work.

  3. Мне не спіцца.

    I can't sleep.

    Word by Word: To-me not sleeps-itself.

  4. Яму не сядзіцца дома.

    He can't sit still at home.

    Word by Word: To-him not sits-itself at-home.

  5. Як табе спалася?

    How did you sleep?

    Word by Word: How to-you slept-itself?

  6. Мне не верыцца, што лета ўжо скончылася.

    I can hardly believe that summer is already over.

    Word by Word: To-me not believes-itself, that summer already ended.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a nominative subject with хочацца.

    Я хочацца спаць.
    Мне хочацца спаць.

    Хочацца has no subject. Either put the person in the dative (мне хочацца) or use the ordinary verb with a subject (я хачу).

  • Making the past-tense verb agree with the person.

    Мне хацеўся піць.
    Мне хацелася піць.

    The verb does not agree with the dative person, so the past is always the neuter form: хацелася, спалася, сядзелася.

  • Using the Russian ending -ось.

    Мне не спалось.
    Мне не спалася.

    Belarusian keeps -ся after a vowel as well: спалася, хацелася. The short -сь belongs to Russian.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

мне хочаццаLevel 4Impersonal Wanting and Feeling with -ся

Learn This First

Impersonal wanting needs хацець, -ся and the dative.

Words in This Pattern

хацецца-сяспацца