質問: I've asked this to several native Japanese speakers, but I've gotten varied responses so I thought I'd put it out here. Which feels 'stronger', ie more forceful: (1) そこに行かないでほしい (2) そこに行ってほしくない To me, ~ないでほしい feels like it's a little more forceful. Then again, both are probably translated the same way in English. So what's the verdict? 分からなかったら書かないでほしい。(笑)
回答: Both are rather simply using ほしい, and I personally do not think there is a clear difference in the level of forcefulness. The literal translation of these two sentences are different also in English: > > (1) そこに行かないでほしい。 I want you not to go there. > > (2) そこに行ってほしくない。 I do not want you to go there. > > > Sentence 2 is theoretically ambiguous; it usually means the same thing as Sentence 1, but its literal meaning is closer to "I'm not saying I want you to go there." (i.e., if you want to go there, I don't want to stop you, either.) Therefore, some people may say Sentence 1 is more direct, explicit, and thus sounds a little "stronger". But practically, these are almost always safely interchangeable.