N4 grammar

〜たがる

tagaru

What someone else wants

Formation

たがる is たい plus がる, for what somebody else visibly wants to do. It usually appears as たがっている, describing the wanting as ongoing. Saying it about yourself sounds odd for the same reason がる does.

Examples

〜たがる is marked in each sentence. Tap any word for its dictionary entry.

  1. The dealer wants to sell a car.

  2. She wants to be a designer.

  3. It is Egypt that he wants to visit.

  4. Men like to look masculine.

  5. The kitten wanted in.

The explanation is ours, written for this site. Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR), each machine-checked to actually contain the pattern. Furigana is generated automatically, so a rare reading may be imperfect.