がち

がち expresses a tendency to do something or a tendency for something to happen, usually with a negative connotation. It conveys that something undesirable occurs frequently or easily. It is similar to "tend to," "apt to," or "prone to" in English.

Structure

がち attaches to verb stems (ます-stem) and nouns:

• わすれる忘れる → 忘れ → 忘れがち (tend to forget)
• おくれる遅れる → 遅れ → 遅れがち (tend to be late)
• びょうき病気 → 病気がち (prone to illness)
• くもり曇り → 曇りがち (tend to be cloudy)

Usage

がち functions grammatically like a な-adjective. It can be used as a predicate, as a modifier before a noun with な, or as an adverb with に.

As a predicate:

Modifying a noun (がちな + noun):

As an adverb (がちに):

Negative nuance

がち almost always implies something undesirable or unfortunate. It is not typically used to describe positive tendencies.

Compare with 〜～やすい, which can describe both positive and negative tendencies (e.g. 分かりやすい "easy to understand"), while がち is reserved for negative ones.

Common expressions

Some set phrases using がち are very common:

• ありがち – something that tends to happen; cliché; typical
• なりがち – tend to become
• わすれがち忘れがち – tend to forget
• おくれがち遅れがち – tend to be late
• るすがち留守がち – often away from home