Do でしたい/でたい (want to be) exist? Or is なりたい always used?

Japanese Language Grammar
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Random Grammar Question of The Week

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There is でありたい and でありたいです.

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That and also でいたい for “want to be.” They both mean that.

However, these do have a different feel from なりたい.

なりたい includes the aspect of changing to something, but でありたい and でいたい don’t include that.

So something like 親切な人でありたい does literally mean “I want to be a kind person” but it doesn’t mean you aren’t a kind person now.

親切な人になりたい would mean “I want to be a kind person,” but it means you aren’t one now.

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