N3 Appearance, Tendencies, and Hearsay

~がち: meaning, usage and examples

~がち means: tend to... / prone to... (negative tendency).

Updated 9 November 2026 · By the My Senpai team · Spotted a mistake? Tell us

Examples

1. 娘むすめは体からだがよわくて、学校がっこうを休やすみがちだ。

   My daughter is in poor health, so she tends to miss school.

2. 彼かれは最近さいきん、遅刻ちこくしがちだ。

   He has been late a lot lately.

3. 冬ふゆは家いえにいる時間じかんが長ながくなりがちです。

   In winter, we tend to spend more time at home.

4. 田中たなかさんは忙いそがしいと、食事しょくじを抜ぬきがちです。

   When Mr. Tanaka is busy, he tends to skip meals.

When to use it

がち says that something tends to happen often, usually something undesirable. Use it for habits and situations that happen more than they should: 遅おくれがち (often late), 休やすみがち (often absent), 忘わすれがち (apt to forget), 病気びょうきがち (often sick). It describes a repeated tendency, not a single event, and it is common in advice, news and descriptions of people.

Nuance

Almost always negative or at least unwelcome; 頑張がんばりがち or 成功せいこうしがち sounds strange. Neutral register, fine in speech and writing. It works with a limited set of nouns (病気びょうき, 留守るす, 曇くもり) and many verbs. It describes how often something happens, not how something looks.

Compare

っぽい describes a quality or appearance (子こどもっぽい, childish; 忘わすれっぽい, forgetful by nature). 気味ぎみ is a slight feeling or trend right now (かぜ気味ぎみ, a touch of a cold). がち is frequency: 冬ふゆは運動うんどう不足ふそくになりがちです (in winter we tend not to get enough exercise). Ask: does it happen often? Then がち.

Tip: Think "prone to" plus something bad, so never use it for good habits. With verbs, use the ます-stem: 忘わすれがち, not 忘わすれるがち.