がる
- 1Shows signs of feeling something (fear, dislike, etc.), as observed from outside.Ex. 2
- 2Shows that they want something, typically as 欲しがる with を.Ex. 1
Particle change: the object of 欲しい takes を with 欲しがる（服が欲しい → 服を欲しがる）
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がる describes other people's (usually third persons') feelings and desires based on what can be observed, since Japanese normally treats inner feelings as directly knowable only by the speaker. It is common in everyday speech and writing, often in ている form for a current state. Unlike appearance or inference patterns, it forms a full verb that can take objects and conjugate.
Learners often use がる for their own feelings; for the speaker, the plain adjective (怖い, 欲しい) is normally used instead.
Note that with 欲しがる the wanted thing is marked with を, not が as with 欲しい.
Note that a current, observed state is usually expressed with がっている rather than the dictionary form がる.
- たがるN4「たがる」 is the form 「がる」 takes after 「たい」, attaching to the masu-stem of a verb, and it only expresses that someone else wants to do something. For wanting a thing, use 「欲しがる」; emotions and feelings cannot take 「たがる」.
- げN2「げ」 forms a na-adjective, is rather formal, and emphasizes what shows in one's expression; 「がる」 is a godan verb emphasizing expression through words and actions. The forms cannot be swapped directly, but similar meanings can be conveyed by rephrasing, e.g. 「言いたげだ」 vs. 「言いたがっている」.
- そうに / そうなN4「そうに／そうな」 judges by appearance, works as an adverbial or attributive, can also describe things (「おいしそうなケーキ」), and when attached to a verb can mean something is about to happen; 「がる」 is a verb that generally describes a third party showing feelings or desires through words and actions.
- ようだN4「ようだ」 is the speaker's tentative conjecture based on observation, can also express metaphor, and attaches to verbs, adjectives, and nouns; 「がる」 directly describes a third party's outwardly shown feelings or desires and attaches only to stems of feeling-type adjectives and 「たい」, so the two are not interchangeable.
- みたいだN4When describing someone else's feelings, 「寒がっている」 presents feeling cold as visible words and actions, with a direct tone; 「寒いみたい」 is merely the speaker's conjecture and is more tentative. 「みたいだ」 can also attach to nouns to express metaphor and leans colloquial.
- っぽいN3「がる」 forms a verb describing a third party showing emotions or desires through words and actions; 「っぽい」 forms an i-adjective expressing the speaker's sense that something has a certain trait, is prone to..., or has a high content of some element, and is mostly colloquial — the two are not interchangeable.
たがる is がる attached to たい and expresses someone's desire to do an action, while がる alone attaches to feeling adjectives; げ, そうに / そうな, ようだ, みたいだ and っぽい describe how something looks or seems, or what the speaker infers, whereas がる is a verb stating that a person is actually displaying a feeling.
