Tend to: 〜がち
Noun / Verb ます-stem + がち（だ・な・の）
Noun / verb stem + がち（だ・な・の）: “tend to, often”, for something you'd rather avoid.
In short
〜がち says something happens often, that you tend to do or suffer it — and almost always something you'd rather avoid: 忘れがち (tend to forget), 曇りがち (often cloudy), 病気がち (often ill).
- この時期は、曇りがちな日が続く。このじきは、くもりがちなひがつづく。At this time of year, we get one mostly cloudy day after another.
- 忙しいと、食事を抜きがちだ。いそがしいと、しょくじをぬきがちだ。When I'm busy, I tend to skip meals.
- 子どものころは病気がちだった。こどものころはびょうきがちだった。As a child, I was often ill.
The basics
がち attaches to a noun or a verb stem and means “that often happens, tending to”. It's about frequency, not character: 忘れがち doesn't mean “absent-minded by nature”, but “forgetting happens often”. And it's almost always something negative — English “tend to”, “be prone to”, “often”.
When you're busy, you tend to skip meals.
- adjective
- noun
- verb
- grammatical form
- 年を取ると、外に出るのがおっくうになりがちだ。としをとると、そとにでるのがおっくうになりがちだ。As you get older, you tend to find going out a chore.
- 彼は最近、学校を休みがちだ。かれはさいきん、がっこうをやすみがちだ。He's been missing school a lot lately.
How to form it
Noun + がち, or verb stem (ます-form without ます) + がち. The result behaves like a な-adjective: がちだ at the end of a sentence, がちな or がちの before a noun, がちに before a verb.
| Base | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| noun | 病気がち・曇りがち・留守がち | often ill, cloudy, away |
| stem | 忘れがち・遅れがち・休みがち | often forget, be late, be absent |
| before a noun | 曇りがちな天気 | mostly cloudy weather |
| before a verb | 遠慮がちに言う | say hesitantly |
- 父は仕事で留守がちだ。ちちはしごとでるすがちだ。My father is often away because of work.
- 日本人は、自分の意見を言うのを遠慮しがちだと言われる。にほんじんは、じぶんのいけんをいうのをえんりょしがちだといわれる。Japanese people are said to tend to hold back from giving their opinion.
がち, っぽい, 気味
がち: something that happens often (frequency). っぽい: a character trait or an appearance (忘れっぽい = forgetful by nature). 気味 (line 10): you feel a slight sign of it right now (風邪気味 = a bit of a cold).
| Form | Idea | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 〜がち | it happens often | 遅れがちなバス |
| 〜っぽい | it's their nature, their air | 忘れっぽい人 |
| 〜気味 | a slight sign, right now | 風邪気味だ |
- 母は忘れっぽい性格だ。はははわすれっぽいせいかくだ。My mother is forgetful by nature.
Common mistakes
- Using it for a good habit: 「よく勉強しがちだ」 sounds wrong; がち is about tendencies you regret.
- Attaching がち to the dictionary form: 「忘れるがち」 is wrong; it's 忘れがち.
- Mixing up がち (frequency) and っぽい (character): 怒りがち and 怒りっぽい aren't used in the same cases.
7 exercises on this point
Particles to choose, sentences to put back in order, translations: marked straight away, then reviewed at the right time. This JLPT N3 point is on the Randen Line (Nature and climate) of the Kyoto lines.