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I was talking to a person and they used:

大切にしたくなるよ。

Does that mean I have come to cherish or something like that?

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Does that mean I have come to cherish or something like that?

Yes, that is precisely the idea!

Now, a grammar explanation...

「なる」 here means "to reach a certain (new) state" and you will keep encountering this usage of the word as long as you study Japanese. That is a promise from a native speaker.

「[連用形]{れんようけい} (continuative form) + なる」＝ "to become ~~", "to start doing ~~", etc.

「たく」 is the 連用形 of the subsidiary verb 「たい」("to want to"); therefore, 「～～したくなる」 means "to start wanting to ~~". (「し」 is the 連用形 of「する」)

「[赤]{あか}くなる」 = "to turn red". 「赤く」 is the 連用形 of 「赤い」.

「パリに[行]{い}きたくなった。」 = "I have started wanting to go to Paris."

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  • But since you need the verb form to end in い, how do you use this is non-past verbs? I assume this is correct: りんごを食べたくなった (I started wanting to eat apples) りんごを食べなくなった (I started not eating apples) (So, from now on, I'm not eating apples anymore) My tries: (I started eating apples) (So, from now on, I'm eating apples) りんごを食べになった。 りんごを食べるのようになった Thanks!
    – kuonb
    Jan 19, 2016 at 8:59
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    @kuonb You don’t need the verb form to end in い; you need it to be the continuative stem (連用形) of the verb in question. The continuative often ends in い, but not always. Monograde verbs like 食べる have continuatives that end in whatever vowel the stem of the root itself ends in (for 食べる, that’s -e: 食べ). So the corresponding form with 食べる is simply 食べ+なる. Whether 「りんごを食べなった」 is something any Japanese speaker would ever say is an entirely different matter, to which I don’t know the answer.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Nov 26, 2016 at 12:15
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Are you familiar with N + になる? (To become N). It's also done w/ verb forms & adjectives ending in い. The い becomes く then add なる.

For adjectives:
大きい -> 大きくなる (Big -> Become Big)
狭い -> 狭くなる

Similarly, this can be done w/ verbs
したい -> したくなる (want to do - > become to want to do)
行きたい -> 行きたくなる (Want to go -> become to want to go)

Obviously the above are literal translations. "Makes _ want to _" is usually better but needs context.

Hope that helps.

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  • thank you it's awkward translating it into English but the idea makes a lot of sense
    – Baby Coder
    Oct 12, 2015 at 14:57
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    "this can be done w/ verbs">> たい is not a verb, is it?
    – Chocolate ♦
    Oct 12, 2015 at 15:32
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    ~たい. thought I made that clear with "verb forms".
    – kiss-o-matic
    Oct 12, 2015 at 17:42
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    @Baby Coder, hope it helped. I knew I'd get down-voted, but it was too much for a reply.
    – kiss-o-matic
    Oct 12, 2015 at 17:43

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