JLPT N2 grammar

〜がたいmeaning and usage

Meaning

Hard to do A (almost impossible to A)

How to form it

  • verb (masu-stem)がたい

How it is used

After the masu-stem: almost impossible to do, mentally or emotionally: 'hard to believe / forgive / forget'. It mostly goes with verbs of thinking or feeling like 「信じる」「許す」「忘れる」 and sounds formal. For physical difficulty, use 「〜にくい」.

Examples

  1. あなたの言うことは信じがたい。

    It is difficult to believe what you say.

  2. 彼のしたことは、とても許しがたい。

    What he did is very hard to forgive.

  3. 初めて一人で旅行した日のことは、忘れがたい思い出だ。

    The day I first travelled alone is a memory I'll never forget.