What does "gataku" mean in this sentence?

Question

守ってもらいたいわけでもないのに、なぜこんなにもこの場所を離れがたく思うのだろう.

What does "gataku" mean in this sentence? I don't know if this is some kind of suffix or grammar point I'm unfamiliar with?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 27 '21 at 22:20

3

がたい is close to にくい and comes after the masu-stem of a verb, meaning "difficult to do something"

難い（がたい）
［接尾］《形容詞型活用［文］がた・し（ク活）。形容詞「かた（難）い」の濁音化》動詞の連用形に付いて、その動作の実現が困難であることを表す。…しにくい。…するのがむずかしい。「得―・い」「信じ―・い」「いわく言い―・い」

I believe it's in JLPT grammar:

[意味]
〜するのが難しい。
「能力的にできない」ということには使わない。

[英訳]
"difficult to do"
＊Not used to mean something can't be done because of lack of ability.

離れがたい: difficult to leave

離れがたく思う: reluctant to part/leave

answered Dec 27 '21 at 22:20

Eddie Kal

2

@Lokitan - You have been using this がたい without knowing it. ありがとう is derived from 有りがたく. – aguijonazo Dec 27 '21 at 23:29
What exactly are the derivation steps there? – Karl Knechtel Dec 28 '21 at 08:01
@KarlKnechtel Could you be a bit more specific? Which steps would you like me to expand on? I thought the arrow-linked line was clear. If not, please let me know. – Eddie Kal Dec 29 '21 at 17:19
I mean between 有りがたく and ありがとう. – Karl Knechtel Dec 29 '21 at 21:51
@KarlKnechtel That's an ウ音便. See this: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/91525/30454 – Eddie Kal Dec 29 '21 at 22:14
Oh, so it's a euphonic shift and not an actual grammatical derivation? I had assumed that the おう vowel combination indicated a volitional, as it typically would. But of course, that wouldn't allow it to appear before ござる. Right. – Karl Knechtel Dec 29 '21 at 22:26
1

@KarlKnechtel - See also: Historical prospective of ウ音便 transformation (e.g. 有難く => 有難う) – aguijonazo Dec 31 '21 at 02:51

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