～がたい (difficult to do)

• 読み: がたい
• ローマ字: gatai
• 形: Verb ます-stem + がたい

意味

An auxiliary adjective attached to the ます-stem of verbs expressing that something is psychologically or emotionally difficult to do. It conveys the idea that something is hard to accept, believe, or carry out.

がたい expresses difficulty that is primarily psychological, emotional, or circumstantial — not physical difficulty. It differs from にくい, which covers general difficulty including physical actions. For example, 信じがたい (hard to believe) implies emotional resistance, while 読みにくい (hard to read) refers to physical difficulty like small print. がたい is used with a more limited set of verbs, typically those involving cognition, emotion, or judgement: 信じる, 理解する, 許す, 忘れる, 耐える, 想像する. It carries a formal, somewhat literary tone and is common in written Japanese, news commentary, and formal speech. The resulting form conjugates like an い-adjective.

例文

1. この結果は信じがたいものだった。
2. 彼の行動は理解しがたい。
3. 許しがたい行為だと批判された。

使い方ガイド

場面: written, formal speech, news

トーン: serious

正しい言い方

• 想像しがたい規模の被害が出た。
• 受け入れがたい条件を提示された。
• あの日の感動は言い表しがたい。

避ける言い方

• この漢字は書きがたい。(Physical difficulty of writing uses にくい, not がたい) → この漢字は書きにくい。
• この靴は歩きがたい。(Physical discomfort in walking uses にくい, not がたい) → この靴は歩きにくい。

起源と歴史

がたい derives from the classical adjective かたし (difficult), which attached to verb stems in the same manner. The voiced form がたい developed through sequential voicing (連濁).

文化的背景

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal