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JLPT N3Modal Expressions

～がたい— Hard To Do; Hard To Accept

Attaches to a verb stem to mean an action is extremely difficult or nearly impossible — often because of a psychological or emotional barrier rather than physical difficulty. It appears in set phrases like 信じがたい (hard to believe) and 忘れがたい (unforgettable). More literary and formal than にくい.

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Pro lessonUNIT 107 · MODAL EXPRESSIONS

Structure · 形

[Verb ます-stem] + がたい

Examples · 例文

  • 彼がそんな嘘をつくとは、信じがたい。

    Kare ga sonna uso o tsuku to wa, shinjigatai.

    It's hard to believe that he would tell such a lie.

    信じ (stem of 信じる) + がたい = difficult to believe

  • あの日の光景は、今でも忘れがたい。

    Ano hi no koukei wa, ima demo wasuregatai.

    The scene from that day is unforgettable even now.

    忘れ (stem of 忘れる) + がたい = hard to forget

  • 彼の態度は理解しがたいものだった。

    Kare no taido wa rikai shigatai mono datta.

    His attitude was something hard to comprehend.

    理解し + がたい expresses difficulty grasping something mentally

Usage notes · 注意

  • Register: formal/literary; frequent in writing and set phrases.
  • Used mainly for abstract/psychological difficulty (believe, forgive, understand), not physical actions like walking.
  • Read as 'gatai' (voiced) after the stem.

Commonly confused with

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

vsにくい

にくい covers general/physical difficulty (書きにくいペン); がたい is more literary and about emotional/logical impossibility (信じがたい).

vsかねる

かねる is a polite 'I can't/won't do it'; がたい objectively describes an action as hard to do or accept.

More modal expressions

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