～がちだ— Prone To It

• 彼は最近学校を休みがちだ。

  Kare wa saikin gakkou o yasumigachi da.

  He tends to be absent from school lately.

  休み (ます-stem of 休む) + がちだ = has a habit of being absent

• 冬は運動不足になりがちです。

  Fuyu wa undou busoku ni narigachi desu.

  In winter people tend to get short on exercise.

  なり (ます-stem of なる) + がち shows a recurring seasonal tendency

• 曇りがちの空を見上げた。

  Kumorigachi no sora o miageta.

  I looked up at the somewhat cloudy sky.

  Noun 曇り + がち modifies 空 with の, meaning 'inclined toward cloudy'

• ・Nuance: almost always negative or undesirable — avoid it for good outcomes.
• ・Common mistake: attach to the ます-stem, not the dictionary form (×休むがち → ○休みがち).
• ・Use がちの / がちな before a noun.

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～がちだ is tested against.

• ～一方だ — Heading Ever Further In One Direction
• ～からいうと／からいえば — Speaking In Terms Of
• ～からして — Even Just From
• ～かわりに — Instead Of / In Exchange
• ～きり — Only / And Never Since
• だらけ — Covered All Over
• っけ — What Was It Again?
• ～っぱなし — Left As It Is