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〜がたい

hard to (accept, believe, forgive)

Verb ます-stem + がたい

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がたい means something is very hard or almost impossible to do, for emotional or moral reasons: 彼がうそをついたとは信じがたい, "it's hard to believe that he lied".

It attaches to the ます-stem of verbs of thinking and feeling: 信じる, 理解する, 受け入れる, 許す, 忘れる. It's a formal, written word.

Compare にくい (N4), which is used for practical difficulty: 読みにくい字, "handwriting that's hard to read". がたい is about the mind resisting: 受け入れがたい提案, "a proposal that's hard to accept".

It works like an い-adjective: 忘れがたい思い出, "an unforgettable memory". 得難い ("rare, precious") and ありがたい ("grateful") come from the same word.

Examples

  • 彼かれがうそをついたとは信しんじがたい。

    It's hard to believe that he lied.

  • その提案ていあんは受うけ入いれがたい。

    That proposal is hard to accept.

  • 彼かれの行動こうどうは理解りかいしがたい。

    His behaviour is hard to understand.

  • 忘わすれがたい思おもい出でになった。

    It became an unforgettable memory.

  • これは許ゆるしがたい行為こういだ。

    This is an unforgivable act.

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