Learn Hardcore Japanese: watasi ha rainen kaigai ni ikitai desu.

In this sentence, 私 is being presented as the topic or the thing we are talking about. The particle は marks the topic. By contrast, が often marks a new or emphasized subject. Saying 私が would stress “I” as the doer, whereas 私は simply sets “as for me…”—perfect for stating your desire.

Why is 来年 placed before 海外?

Japanese typically orders time expressions before locations or objects. Here 来年 (“next year”) comes right after the topic (私は), so the listener immediately knows when the action will happen, then comes 海外に行きたいです (“I want to go abroad”).

Why is に used after 海外, and could I use へ instead?

The particle に indicates a specific destination—where you intend to arrive. へ also marks direction and is grammatically acceptable (海外へ行きたいです), but に is more common when focusing on going to or arriving at a place, especially in everyday conversation.

How does the ～たい form work in 行きたい?

～たい attaches to the verb stem (行く → 行き) to express desire (“want to do ~”). It functions like an i-adjective, so you can modify it (行きたくない “don’t want to go”) or add polite endings (行きたいです “want to go,” politely).

Why is です added after 行きたい? Isn’t 行きたい enough?

While 行きたい already means “want to go,” adding です raises the politeness level. Because 行きたい is treated as an i-adjective, appending です makes the sentence more polite. In casual speech you can drop it: 来年海外に行きたい。

What is the difference between 海外 and 外国?

Both mean “foreign country,” but nuance differs slightly. 外国 literally means “outside country” (any foreign land), while 海外 literally means “over the sea,” often used for overseas contexts (studying, traveling abroad). In many cases they are interchangeable.

What is the basic word order in this Japanese sentence?

The typical pattern here is:

Topic (私は)
Time (来年)
Place + particle (海外に)
Verb + desire form (行きたい)
Politeness marker (です)
So the sequence is topic → time → place → verb → politeness.