JLPT N2: ～がたい (difficult to VERB)

Adding ～がたい to the ます-stem of a VERB means "difficult to VERB."

This is very similar to putting ～にくい onto the ます-stem of a VERB, which we discussed in this lesson. There are some differences, though, which we'll see in this lesson.

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First, an example:

死者と会話ができるなんて信じがたい話だ。
ししゃ　と　かいわ　が　できる　なんて　しんじがたい　はなし　だ。
I find it difficult to believe that someone can speak with the dead.
Literally: “dead person + と + conversation + が + can do + なんて (~to say that) + difficult to believe + talk / story + だ.”

～がたい has a bit of an old-fashioned ring to it. You don't hear it nearly as often as you hear ～にくい.

Also, it appears in a lot of set phrases. That is, people tend to only use it with a select number of verbs, one of which is 信じる (しんじる // to believe), which we saw above. Because people tend to only use ～がたい with certain verbs, I would recommend that you avoid randomly attaching it to whatever verbs you want.

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The formula matches up with what we saw for ～やすい and ～にくい：

V ます ＋ がたい
difficult to VERB

While the general translation is "difficult to VERB," it can also carry the nuance of "impossible to VERB."

Consider how we translated the following sentence:

クロアチアで過ごした１か月は、忘れがたい思い出です。
クロアチア　で　すごした　いっ　かげつ　は、　わすれがたい　おもいで　です。
The month that I spent in Croatia was unforgettable.
Literally: “Croatia + で + spent + one month’s time + は, + difficult to forget + memory + です.”

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More examples, just for you:

私には理解しがたい理由で、突然仕事をクビになった。
わたし　に　は　りかい　しがたい　りゆう　で、　とつぜん　しごと　を　クビ　に　なった。
It just doesn't make any sense to me why I was suddenly fired from my job.
Literally: “I + に + は + understanding + difficult to do + reason + で, + suddenly + job + を + was fired (=was decapitated [=neck + に + became]).”
Note: For example, maybe the speaker was fired for a strange reason, like wearing a purple tie to work.

去年の大会では、耐えがたい屈辱を味わった。
きょねん　の　たいかい　で　は、　たえがたい　くつじょく　を　あじわった。
At last year’s tournament, I suffered an unbearable disgrace.
Literally: “last year + の + tournament + で + は, + difficult to endure + disgrace / humiliation + を + tasted / underwent / endured.”

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So how is ～がたい different from ～にくい？

Aside from the fact that ～にくい is more common and ～がたい is a bit stiff-sounding, one major difference is that ～がたい should not be used when saying that something is difficult to do because of a lack of ability.

So this would be a bit odd to say:

✖ おかゆは箸では食べがたい。
✖ おかゆ　は　はし　で　は　たべがたい。
✖ Okayu is difficult to eat with chopsticks.
✖ Literally: “okayu (=type of Japanese rice porridge) + は + chopsticks + で + は + difficult to eat.”

But this sounds pretty natural:

〇 おかゆは箸では食べにくい。
〇 おかゆ　は　はし　で　は　たべにくい。
〇 Okayu is hard to eat with chopsticks.
〇 Literally: “okayu (=type of Japanese rice porridge) + は + chopsticks + で + は + hard to eat.”

Similarly, this sounds a bit odd:

✖ 鼻が詰まっていて、呼吸しがたい。
✖ はな　が　つまっていて、　こきゅう　しがたい。
✖ My nose is stuffed, and it’s difficult to breathe.
✖ Literally: “nose + が + is clogged (and), + difficult to breathe.”

But this would be OK:

〇 鼻が詰まっていて、呼吸しにくい。
〇 はな　が　つまっていて、　こきゅう　しにくい。
〇 My nose is stuffed, and it’s hard to breathe.
〇 Literally: “nose + が + is clogged (and), + hard to breathe.”

To be honest, distinctions like this confuse me. I wouldn't even worry about it if I were you.

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What about ～づらい？！

None of my Japanese grammar books have any information about ～づらい, which works pretty much the same way as ～にくい：

V ます ＋ にくい
V ます ＋ づらい
hard to VERB

So we could say:

〇 おかゆは箸では食べづらい。
〇 おかゆ　は　はし　で　は　たべづらい。
〇 Okayu is hard to eat with chopsticks.
〇 Literally: “okayu (=type of Japanese rice porridge) + は + chopsticks + で + は + hard to eat.”

～づらい comes from the i-adjective 辛い (つらい // tough; difficult; hard; painful). You have to figure out when a word is 辛い (つらい) and not 辛い (からい // spicy) based on the context of the sentence, by the way.

One phrase that I find myself saying often is わかりづらい, which means something like "(It's) hard to understand."

Or if you can't breathe well, you could say:

〇 鼻が詰まっていて、呼吸しづらい。
〇 はな　が　つまっていて、　こきゅう　しづらい。
〇 My nose is stuffed, and it’s hard to breathe.
〇 Literally: “nose + が + is clogged (and), + hard to breathe.”

...but I find that I more commonly hear:

息しづらい。
いき　しづらい。
It's hard to breathe.
Literally: “breath / breathing + hard to do.”

I used to have a bad habit of forgetting the verb and saying ✖ 息づらい. Oops.

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Quick Recap

Here's everything you need to remember:

V ます ＋ やすい
easy to VERB

V ます ＋ にくい
V ます ＋ づらい
hard to VERB

V ます ＋ がたい
difficult to VERB

食べる（たべる // to eat）
食べます（たべます // eat）
食べやすい（たべやすい // easy to eat）
食べにくい（たべにくい // hard to eat）
食べづらい（たべづらい // hard to eat）
食べがたい（たべがたい // difficult to eat）

Don't forget to review these past lessons:
- [NDL #672] - JLPT N4: ～やすい
- [NDL #673] - JLPT N4: ～にくい