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N3

がち

Apt to do, Tend to do, Prone to do

サボりがちな人ひとはだいたい成績せいせきが悪わるい。

People who tend to skip school usually have bad grades.

Explanation

「〜がち」 (勝ち) attaches to the verb stem or a noun and means 'tends to ...', 'is apt to ...'. Some flaw or unwelcome thing keeps showing up in daily life: 「彼は病気がちだ」 (He is often ill) 「忘れがちだ」 (tends to forget). It is mostly used for undesirable things to watch out for.

Mixed up with

「〜がち」: a negative tendency that recurs (休みがち, 忘れがち).

「〜ぎみ」: a slight bad sign in body or mind right now (風邪気味, 疲れ気味).

「〜っぽい」: has a tendency in character (怒りっぽい) or looks like (子供っぽい).

「〜やすい」: easy to happen by nature, good or bad (折れやすい, 分かりやすい).

Common forms: 「〜がちだ」, 「〜がちの+noun」, 「〜がちになる」.

Examples

  1. 彼かれはいつも遠慮えんりょがちだ。

    He always tends to hold back.

  2. 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。

    When I'm free I tend to watch TV, but when I'm busy I don't watch it at all.

  3. それは初心者しょしんしゃにありがちなミスですね。

    That is a mistake beginners tend to make.

Tested 3 times in past papers

N2 · Jul 2022, Q39N1 · Jul 2019, Q37N2 · Dec 2013, Q44