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In my JLPT practise book, it has two different entries, one to explain `がる`
and one to explaining `たがる`. It offeres these example sentences to
differentiate them:

> うちの子{こ}は新{あたら}しいものを見{み}ると、すぐほしがる。
>
> うちの子{こ}は甘{あま}いものを見{み}ると、すぐ食{た}べたがる。

I think they both mean to behave in a way that expresses the feeling
described. So, `ほしがる` means to not only hope for, but to act like you hope for
it, and as a result, everyone who sees you will know you are hoping. Something
like that... I don't have a pithy way of explaining `がる`.

So, if my definition is right, it seems both sentences are explaining
essentially the same thing, and the only difference is one is attached to a
verb, and the other is attached to a... um... something else. Whatever the
grammatical category of `ほしい` is.

I'm confused about why the book is going out of its way to explain them
separately.

Is there a difference in definition between `がる` and `たがる` beyond just how
they fit into a sentence grammatically?
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2011-11-28T07:22:43.897
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2014-10-20T06:36:50.530
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question
grammar word-choice definitions jlpt
Aren't がる and たがる the same thing?
Expanding on @TsuyoshiIto's comment above, `がる` basically turns an イ-adjective
(or "words which conjugate like" them, as he states) into a verb. Essentially
means "acting this way" or "behaving in such a way":

>   * 寒【さむ】がる → To be cold (さむがり: a person who is always cold -- like me);
> "acting that you are cold"
>   * 怖【こわ】がる → To be afraid of something; "behaving such that you are afraid"
>

As a logical following of this, `たがる` is really just the 〜たい form of a verb
(which conjugates like an イ-adjective) plus `がる`

>   * 食べたがる → ("Acting like") Wanting to eat
>   * 行きたがる → ("Acting like") Wanting to go
>   * 見たがる → ("Behaving like") Wanting to see/watch
>

Since `〜たい` cannot be used to directly state a 3rd party's desires (unless
followed by something like `〜と思っている` or `〜と言う`), you must use `〜たがる`.

> × となりのひとは新しいテレビを買いたい。  
>  ○ となりのひとは新しいテレビを買いたいと言った。  
>  ○ となりのひとは新しいテレビを買いたがっている。  
>  ○ となりのひとは新しいテレビを買いたいようだ。

I think the confusion in your examples is that you just happen to be using
`食べたい` (want to eat) and `ほしい` (generic "wants").

So there's really no need to think that there are two separate grammar
patterns here. The pattern is really just `がる`. It just depends on whether
you're attaching it to a regular イ-adjective or to a `〜たい` イ-adjective.
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2011-11-28T15:52:21.390
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2014-10-20T06:36:50.530
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answer