71838
In the following sentence, the verb がる appears to be used in passive form when
the speaker is describing herself as a child:

> 私は少し奇妙がられる子供だった

What does がる indicate when used in passive form? Because the verb normally
indicates a quality someone is displaying, I don't understand how it can be
put in passive form.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-16T06:31:30.540
71834
2019-09-16T12:34:36.180
14125
question
passive-voice auxiliaries
がる passive form
In this context, 私 is the one 奇妙が **られる** by others/someone around me. In
other words, `他人から/周囲から` (by others/someone around me) is omitted from the
sentence, as follows:

> 私は`他人から/周囲から`少し奇妙が **られる** 子供だった
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-16T08:47:53.443
71838
2019-09-16T08:47:53.443
35390
71834
answer
Well ～がる can mean to «act as if～» or «behave as if～». I don't know who is
acting here, but let's say it's her teacher. In that case my best guess at
what the non-passive form of the sentence would be something like,

> 私は先生が（私を）少し奇妙がる子供だった。  
>  I was a child that the teacher acted as if was a little strange.

However who acted as if she was strange isn't really important, so passive is
used here to shift focus onto herself as the recipient of the verb. So it's
more about how she was treated by others (or her perceived opinion of herself
from others).

> 私は（先生に）少し奇妙がられる子供だった。  
>  I was treated as a little strange child (by my teacher).  
>  _(lit. I was a child that was acted as if a little strange by my teacher)_

So in essence people around were showing signs that she was a bit strange when
she was a child. So although it might not translate well into English, it
should act much like any other passive verb in Japanese.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-16T12:34:36.180
71844
2019-09-16T12:34:36.180
13677
71834
answer