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I always place verbs with the "~たがる" ending (called a helping verb?) in the
present continuous, or past continuous state:  
行きたがっている。  
食べたがっていた。

I am having trouble with using the non-continuous tenses (行きたがる、食べたがった) to
express myself. The meaning of "~たがる", as I understand it, lends itself too
much to being in a continuous state of "wanting to do something" or "having
wanted to do something".

I kind of see my strategy as always using the continuous tenses to express
myself. And, if I ever hear the non-continuous tenses, then I can understand
(but, I cannot remember ever hearing the usage of a non-continuous tense).

Examples of when "~たがる" cannot be used in a continuous tense (the "~たがっている"
and "~たがっていた" continuous tenses) would be very helpful to me.
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2014-01-30T03:05:13.943
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2014-10-20T02:44:07.103
2014-10-20T02:44:07.103
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question
auxiliaries
When can "~たがる" not be used in a continuous tense?
This question is twofold or rather based on misunderstanding.

You wrote "to express myself" twice, so I could not be misreading it. You have
been saying things like 「行きたがっている。」 and 「 食べたがっていた。」 about yourself, correct?
If so, you have been using「がる」 incorrectly or at least in a highly unnatural
way.

「がる」 is generally used to describe other people's desires, not your own. The
exceptions are where you speak of your own wish from another person's
viewpoint or in an objective way.

Incorrect:「ボクはスイスに[行]{い}きたがっている。」

Correct:「ボクがスイスに行きたがっているのを[君]{きみ}は[知]{し}っている。」= "You know that I have been
wanting to go to Switzerland."

Correct:「ボクはスイスに行きたい。」= I want to go to Switzerland."

Correct:「[花子]{はなこ}さんはスイスに行きたがっている。」= "Hanako wants to go to Switzerland."

Now we could finally discuss the non-progressive (or non-continuous in your
word). Chocolate gave good examples in her comment above. Note that the
subjects are all third persons in her example sentences as well. That is how
native speakers use がる.

Other examples from me:

General/Present:「子どもがほしがるからって、アメばっかりあげないでよ！」= "Don't keep giving the kids
candies just because they want them!"

Future:「このTシャツ、[山田]{やまだ}に[見]{み}せたら[絶対]{ぜったい}ほしがるだろうな。」= If I show this T-shirt
to Yamada, he will definitely want it.

Past:「[東京]{とうきょう}の[写真]{しゃしん}をたくさんジョンに[見]{み}せたけど、あまり行きたがらなかった。」= "I showed John
many photos of Tokyo but he did not seem to want to go (to Tokyo) much."
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2014-01-30T10:35:19.860
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2014-01-30T10:35:19.860
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answer