Questions & Answers about Мне не хочется идти в кино‑клуб сегодня вечером.
Why does it start with мне (dative) instead of я (nominative)?
Because (мне) хочется is an impersonal construction: literally something like “it is wanted to me / I feel like …”.
So the person who experiences the desire is put in the dative case:
- Мне хочется… = I feel like…
- Ему хочется… = He feels like…
- Нам хочется… = We feel like…
This is different from a normal personal verb like я хочу (I want), which uses the nominative я.
What exactly is хочется—is it the same as хочу?
They’re related but not the same.
- хочу = I want (direct, intentional, more “decided”)
- хочется = I feel like / I have an urge to (more about mood, less deliberate)
So Мне не хочется идти… often sounds like “I don’t feel like going…” rather than a firm “I don’t want to go.”
Why is there не before хочется, not before идти?