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.
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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.”

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.

Vocabulary

(White dumpling)

白玉(しらたま) means a white ball, often a small white dumpling in sweets. The name comes from its jewel-like smooth round shape.

See Also

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