がる

Show Signs of

Level 2Sounds Like garu

In Japanese, you cannot directly state what someone else is feeling (e.g., 'He is sad'). Instead, you must describe their outward behavior. The suffix がる transforms adjectives into verbs that mean 'to show signs of' or 'to act as if' feeling something.

How It Works

In Japanese culture, stating another person's internal state as a fact is often considered presumptuous. がる allows you to speak objectively about what you see.

1. Conjugation Rules:

  • い-adjectives: Remove the final 〜い and add 〜がる. (Example: 痛い（いたい） → 痛がる)
  • な-adjectives: Add 〜がる to the adjective stem. (Example: 残念（ざんねん） → 残念がる)
  • たい-form: Remove the final 〜い and add 〜がる to form 〜たがる.

2. Subjective Feelings & Sensations:
This pattern is restricted to adjectives describing internal feelings, emotions, or physical sensations (e.g., 怖い（こわい）, 痛い（いたい）, 欲しい（ほしい）). It cannot be used with objective traits like color or convenience.

3. Current State vs. Habit:
When describing a person's current, visible emotion or state, you must use the continuous form 〜がっている. The plain form 〜がる usually implies a general habit, a characteristic, or a future reaction.

4. Showing Outward Signs:
The core meaning is that someone is 'showing outward signs' of a feeling. While some specific words like 強がる（つよがる） imply 'acting tough' or bluffing, for most adjectives, it simply means the person is behaving in a way that makes their internal state obvious to others.

5. Particle Changes:
When an adjective becomes a がる verb, the object particle often changes from が to を. (Example: 水を欲しがっている)

6. Noun Form (〜がり):
By changing がる to がり, you can create a noun to describe a person's tendency or personality. For example, a 寒がり（さむがり） is a person who is sensitive to the cold.

Examples (4)

  1. 恥ずかしがらないで、前に来てください。

    Please don't act shy; come to the front.

    Word by Word: Shy-show signs of-don't, front to come please.

    Here, 恥ずかしい (shy) becomes a verb. The speaker is telling the person not to 'act' or 'show signs of' being shy.

  2. うちの犬は、散歩に行きたがっています。

    My dog is showing signs of wanting to go for a walk.

    Word by Word: Our dog (topic), walk to go-want-showing signs of is.

    Since we cannot know a dog's internal thoughts, we use 〜たがっている to describe its excited behavior regarding the walk.

  3. 彼は新しい車を欲しがっている。

    He appears to want a new car.

    Word by Word: He (topic) new car (object) want-showing signs of is.

    Note the use of the particle を instead of が because 欲しがる functions as a transitive verb.

  4. 弟は一人で寝るのを怖がります。

    My little brother is afraid of sleeping alone.

    Word by Word: Little brother (topic) alone sleep (nominalizer) (object) fear-shows signs of.

    This describes a general behavioral tendency of the brother showing fear.

Common Mistakes

  • Using がる with the adjective いい (good) or adjectives like 好き (like).

    彼はその映画をいいたがっている。
    彼はその映画をいいと思っている。

    The adjective いい (good) cannot be used with がる. Attempting to say よがる has a specific sexual connotation and should be avoided. Instead, use 〜と思っている or 〜よさそうだ. Similarly, 好き (like) and 嫌い (dislike) are never used with がる.

  • Using がる to describe your own direct feelings.

    私は寒がっています。
    私は寒いです。

    You don't need to 'observe' your own feelings. Use the adjective directly for yourself. Using がる for yourself sounds like you are looking at yourself from the outside, unless you are describing a long-term personality trait using the noun form 〜がり.

  • Forgetting to change the particle from が to を.

    妹はケーキが食べたがっている。
    妹はケーキを食べたがっている。

    While the 〜たい form often uses が, the 〜たがる form is a verb and usually takes the object particle を.

How It Connects

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がるLevel 2Show Signs of

Learn This First

To understand がる, you first need to know how to identify and use adjective stems (both い and な types), as this suffix attaches directly to them. Additionally, since adding がる turns an adjective into a verb, you must understand basic verb groups to conjugate the resulting word into forms like ~がっている or ~がった.

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がる