たがる
- 1Someone (usually a third person) is showing signs of wanting to do something.Ex. 1
- 2Someone habitually or characteristically tends to want to do something.Ex. 2
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Neutral in register and used in everyday speech and writing to describe other people's wishes, especially those of children, family members, or people being discussed. The たがっている form describes a desire currently on display, while the plain たがる form often describes a habitual tendency. Unlike たい, which states the speaker's own wish directly, たがる reports a wish observed from the outside.
Do not use たがる to state your own current wish; use たい for the speaker's desire instead.
Note that たがる can sound rude or presumptuous when describing superiors or the person you are talking to directly.
Learners often keep が with たがる; because たがる is a verb, the object normally takes を, as in ケーキを食べたがる.
- たいN5「たい」expresses the speaker's own desire, and in questions it can ask about the listener's; 「たがる」describes a third person's desire, so the two cannot be interchanged. 「たい」conjugates like an i-adjective and can mark its object with 「が」, while 「たがる」conjugates as a godan verb and generally marks its object with 「を」.
- がるN4「たがる」is simply 「たい」＋「がる」. 「がる」attaches to i- and na-adjective stems and covers a wider range: it expresses desires (e.g., 「欲しがる」, wanting something) as well as emotions and sensations (e.g., 「怖がる」, 「寒がる」).
- ようだN4「ようだ」expresses the speaker's tentative conjecture based on observation, or a simile, and can attach to verbs, adjectives, and nouns; 「たがる」attaches only to verb stems with 「ます」removed and describes desires that others display outwardly. To make a tentative guess about someone else's desire, use 「〜たいようだ」.
- らしいN4「たがる」directly describes a desire another person shows on the outside; 「らしい」expresses conjecture or reported information based on hearsay or signs, and is not limited to desires (it takes no 「だ」after nouns or na-adjectives). To hedge a guess about someone's desire, say 「〜たいらしい」.
- ように見えるN4「たがる」attaches to the ます-stem and describes desires another person lets show outwardly; 「ように見える」attaches to the plain form, 「noun＋の」, and similar structures, and expresses conjecture from appearance or a metaphor — it does not itself express wanting, so the two cannot be interchanged.
たい expresses the speaker's own desire, while たがる is たい + がる and describes another person's observable desire; がる itself attaches to adjective stems (寒がる, ほしがる) for feelings shown outwardly. ようだ, らしい, and ように見える express the speaker's inference or hearsay about a situation, whereas たがる simply reports someone's displayed wanting.
