Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 10: 7/20

がち

Apt to do, Tend to do, Prone to do

Structure

Verb［ます］+ がち
Noun + がち
Noun (1) + がち + な(2) + Noun


(1) Verb［ます］
(2) の

Details

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    勝ち

About がち

がち is a suffix in Japanese that will be used after nouns, or the conjunctive form of verbs. It conveys that someone is 'apt to (A)', 'tends to (A)', or 'is prone to (A)'. Although not always negative, がち is most frequently used to express negative tendencies.

Fun Fact

がち as a grammar structure comes from the word 勝(が)ち, meaning 'a win'. 勝(が)ち in itself is used to express something that appears 'repeatedly', or 'again and again'. Due to this, がち may be thought of as similar to 'to win out' in English, meaning that 'although there are many possibilities, (A) winning out is the most likely'. This 'winning out' may be due to preference, or sheer good/bad luck.

  • 暇(ひま)なときはテレビを見(み)がちだけど、忙(いそが)しい時(とき)には全然(ぜんぜん)見(み)ない。
    Watching TV wins out when I am bored, but when I am busy I don't watch it at all.
  • 俺(おれ)が回(まわ)すと当(あ)たりがちだから、俺(おれ)にやらせてみろ。
    Hitting the jackpot wins out when I spin it, so why don't you let me do it.
  • 釣(つ)れないことはありがちだから、落(お)ち込(こ)まなくてもいいよ。そういう日(ひ)もあるさ。
    Times that you cannot catch anything often win out, so don't be so upset. It happens.

Examples

--:--

    それは初心者(しょしんしゃ)にありがちのミスですね。

    That is a mistake beginners tend to make.

    彼(かれ)はいつも遠慮(えんりょ)がちだ。

    He always tends to hold back.

    私(わたし)の息子(むすこ)は病気(びょうき)がちだ。

    My boy is apt to get sick.

    あの人(ひと)はすぐ、痩(や)せることを諦(あきら)めがちだ。

    That person is prone to quickly give up on losing weight.

    私(わたし)は昔(むかし)から遅刻(ちこく)しがちだ。

    I have always been prone to being late.

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がち – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (3 in total)

  • MZa

    MZa

    I’ve found this can be written 勝ち (very useful to retain this imho). Is it often written in kanji?

    Due to the kanji meaning ‘victory, prevail’ and the point being used for negative tendencies, i guess this implies that this point literally means something like ‘the negative tendencies win, prevail’, but how do we have to understand it syntactically (is it the stem of 勝つ used as a noun ?)?

  • Pep95

    Pep95

    Oh nice! This will help a lot

  • Daru

    Daru

    That is exactly right! I didn’t know this myself, thank you for pointing it out!

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