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「あんたなんて甘やかしたらどこまでもツケあがるタチだから、厳しくされてちょうどいいのよ。」
If I pamper the likes of you, you'll be endlessly spoiled, so ...

I thought タチ was "the nature of a person" so ツケあがるタチ would be a "spoiled nature". So I don't understand why we have だ rather than ある afterwards. Surely "You will have a spoiled nature" rather than "you will be a spoiled nature".

Could someone please explain what I am misunderstanding in this sentence?

Also, I'm totally stuck on how the second clause works. Does it mean "being judged strictly is just right"? I may post a separate question about this.

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We say that you have a spoiled nature, however, we say ツケあがるタチだ in Japanese.

We have to note that a word cannot be always translated in one or some certain ways.

ほくろがある
怒{おこ}りっぽい性格{せいかく}だ
黒{くろ}い髪{かみ}をしている

These three expressions would be translated with have into English.

Generally, the same expression as in English is NOT necessarily used to express a certain situation or thing in other languages.

So, it is no wonder ''疲れる'' and ''be tired'' are the same, no wonder ''違う'' and ''be different'' are the same, and no wonder ''ツケあがるタチだ'' and ''you have a spoiled nature'' are the same meaning.

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  • That's fair enough. I understand that things don't normally translate directly. But in this case doesn't it just mean that we've failed to make a sensible translation for タチ. After all, "to wear" is an accepted translation for する which makes 黒い髪をしている make sense. If I were to translate タチ to "type of person" rather than "character/nature", can you think of a sentence where that wouldn't work?
    – user3856370
    Dec 11, 2015 at 11:27
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    I think タチ can be translated to ''type of person'', however, ''nature'' would match the best because タチ is not only used for persons but also used for things. For example, タチの悪い問題. Do you need to avoid using ''character'' or ''nature''? I think there are no problems to use ''have'' as the translation for a sentence which ends with ''〜だ'' in Japanese. Could I understand you?
    – Toshihiko
    Dec 11, 2015 at 13:50

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