Japanese with Manga

Difficult to pass on with 〜がたい

Grammar Explanation: Difficult to do with 〜がたい

Manga panel from ご注文はうさぎですか？ showing example of Difficult to pass on with 〜がたい.
ご注文はうさぎですか？ » Volume 1 » Page 46

Visiting her new friend’s family’s café, Cocoa ponders over which menu item to order.

ココア:
「わー抹茶(まっちゃ)パフェもいいし　クリームあんみつ白玉(しらたま)ぜんざいも　捨(す)てがたいなあ」
“Wow, the green tea parfait is good, but the cream anmitsu and dumpling red bean soup are difficult to pass on.”
Literal: “Wow, the green tea parfait is good, and the cream anmitsu and dumpling red bean soup is also difficult to throw away.”
リゼ:
「わかるのか!?」
“You understand that!?”

Key Points

1捨(す)てがたい means difficult to reject as an option
  • Cocoa is not discussing throwing food away; she finds the other desserts too appealing to pass up.
2捨(す)てる uses its stem before がたい
  • The verb becomes 捨(す)て, and がたい describes strong psychological reluctance rather than physical difficulty.
3も and なあ show Cocoa weighing choices
  • も adds the anmitsu and zenzai to the tempting parfait, while なあ lets her indecision trail off.
4わかるのか shows disbelief
  • Rize is not neutrally asking whether Cocoa understands. Final のか makes her surprised reaction blunt.

Vocabulary

(Green tea)

抹茶(まっちゃ) is a finely powdered green tea whisked with hot water or used to flavor foods and sweets.

(White dumpling)

白玉(しらたま) means a small white rice-flour dumpling, often served in sweets.

See Also

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