Practice JLPT
IntermediateJLPT N3 Grammar

がたい

Hard to (formal)

Romaji: gatai

Meaning & usage

Cannot; un—able; can hardly; difficult to; impossible | An auxiliary adjective which expresses the idea that for someone to do something is virtually impossible or impossible.

Example sentences 9

  1. あの先生は偉すぎて私には近寄りがたい。

    That professor is so respected that I can hardly approach him.

  2. このプロジェクトは 成功せいこうしたとは言いがたい。

    It is hard to say that this project was a success.

  3. この二つの作品は 甲乙こうおつ 付つけがたい。

    Between these two works, it is hard to say that one is better than the other (literally: differentiate between them).

  4. この旅行は私にとって忘れがたい思い出になるだろう。

    This trip will be an unforgettable one (literally: memory) for me.

  5. ジョーンズ氏は 得えがたい 人物じんぶつだ。

    Mr. Jones is an irreplaceable person (literally: a person hard to get).

  6. 彼のしたことは許しがたい。

    What he did is unforgivable.

  7. 彼の 行為こういは理解しがたい。

    His behaviour is hard to understand.

  8. 我々われわれは彼の 犯行はんこうに関する 動うごかしがたい 証拠しょうこをつかんだ。

    We obtained an indisputable piece of evidence concerning his crime.

  9. 私は過去に彼から 耐たえがたい 屈辱くつじょくを受けた。

    I was intolerably humiliated by him in the past. (literally: received an intolerable humiliation from him.)

All N3 grammar