N2 · Expressions (N2)
がたい: hard to bring oneself to
something one can hardly accept, believe or forgive
がたい on the ます-stem says that something is emotionally or morally almost impossible: hard to believe, hard to forgive.
At a glance
- Remember
- がたい: the mind cannot accept it. にくい: the hands cannot manage it.
- Form
- 信じがたいhard to believe
- Signal words
- 〜がたい
- 信じがたい
- 許しがたい
- 忘れがたい
- Trap
- Wrong:この箱は重くて持ちがたい。Right:この箱は重くて持ちにくい。
Your turn
8 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
stem (regular) ending
| hard to believe | 信じがたい |
| hard to forgive | 許しがたい |
| hard to accept | 認めがたい |
| hard to imagine | 想像しがたい |
| unforgettable | 忘れがたい |
| can hardly be called | 言いがたい |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
ます-stem + がたい: hard to bring oneself to.
そんな話は信じがたい。A story like that is hard to believe.
がたい is about belief or conscience; practical difficulty is にくい.
この字は小さくて読みにくい。These characters are so small they are hard to read.
It conjugates like an i-adjective and stands before nouns.
彼の行動は許しがたいものだった。His behaviour was unforgivable.
It belongs to formal speech and writing.
今回の決定は到底受け入れがたい。This decision is utterly unacceptable.
Example sentences
彼が犯人だとは信じがたい。It is hard to believe that he is the culprit.
子どもへの暴力は許しがたい。Violence towards children is unforgivable.
留学の一年は、忘れがたい思い出になった。My year abroad became an unforgettable memory.
その説明は納得しがたい。That explanation is hard to accept.
彼の日本語は上手とは言いがたい。His Japanese can hardly be called good.
百年前の生活は想像しがたい。Life a hundred years ago is hard to imagine.
7 more example sentences
あの日の景色は忘れがたい。The view that day is unforgettable.
彼がそんなことを言ったとは信じがたい。I find it hard to believe he said such a thing.
今の説明では、理解しがたい点が多い。With this explanation, there are many points that are hard to understand.
約束を破るのは許しがたいことだ。Breaking a promise is unforgivable.
この計画は成功したとは言いがたい。This plan can hardly be called a success.
彼女の決断は、私には理解しがたいものだった。Her decision was hard for me to understand.
戦争の悲惨さは言葉では表しがたい。The misery of war is hard to put into words.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English "hard to carry" and "hard to believe" use the same "hard", and learners who have met がたい as a formal "hard to" put it on any verb. But がたい describes a difficulty of the mind — believing, accepting, forgiving. A heavy box is a practical problem: 持ちにくい.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
難い is the old word for "difficult", and on the ます-stem of a verb it makes an i-adjective meaning "hard to bring oneself to": 信じがたい, "hard to believe"; 許しがたい, "hard to forgive"; 理解しがたい, "hard to understand"; 忘れがたい, "unforgettable".
The difficulty is not physical but in the mind: the speaker cannot accept, believe or approve. That is the difference from にくい, which describes practical difficulty — 読みにくい字, "handwriting that is hard to read". 読みがたい is not used for bad handwriting.
The verbs that take がたい form a fairly small set, mostly verbs of believing, accepting, forgiving, expressing and forgetting: 信じる, 認める, 許す, 想像する, 言う (言いがたい, "cannot really be called"), 忘れる. It is formal and written.
English "hard to" covers both kinds, and learners attach がたい to physical tasks: この箱は持ちがたい. A heavy box is 持ちにくい. がたい is kept for the kind of "hard" that has to do with conscience or belief.
A closer look
がたい, にくい, づらい
Three suffixes on the ます-stem all translate as "hard to". にくい is neutral and practical: 使いにくい, "awkward to use". づらい adds that the difficulty is felt by somebody, often with discomfort: 言いづらい, "hard to say (because it is awkward)".
がたい goes further: the thing is all but impossible for the mind to accept. It belongs to a small group of verbs and to formal language, and it often carries the speaker's judgement — 許しがたいcondemns忘れがたいtreasures
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the form is ありがたい
it means "grateful" or "welcome", not "hard to be".
手伝っていただけると、本当にありがたいです。I would be really grateful if you could help.
It is the same suffix: what is "hard to exist" is rare and precious, and from there the word came to mean gratitude — the source of ありがとう.
Worth knowing (1)
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Written with kanji
The suffix is usually written in kana, but 難い also occurs. Read がたい after a ます-stem, it should not be confused with 難しい, which stands on its own.
二人の関係は言い難いものがあった。The relationship between the two was hard to put into words.
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