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Using がる turns adjectives into verbs and adds a "appears to" meaning. For example:

嫌がる (na-adjective)

美味しがる (i-adjective)

Is there ever any point (from a usage perspective) in turning adjectives into verbs?

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    It's not quite clear what you are asking. Do you not think adding an "appears to" meaning is useful? Are you looking for clarification on this usage? Are you looking for other ways to turn adjectives into verbs? Mar 1, 2020 at 15:50

3 Answers 3

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美味しがる (i-adjective)

I've never heard おいしがる, I think people would usually say something like おいしそうに食べる or something. But it seems to exist:

何でこんなものをイギリス人は美味しがって食べるのか。理解に苦しむ。

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Is there ever any point (from a usage perspective) in turning adjectives into verbs?

Yes, the point of 嫌がる is to talk about another person's reaction to something.

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~がる has specific limitations on how it can be used. It is not correct to say it simply 'turns an adjective into a verb' since it only does so under very particular conditions. It can also be used with other verbs.

~がる is an auxiliary verb which is used to indicate that a person other than speaker appears to (want, do) something. It is often used as a replacement for instances in which the speaker might use ~たい or ~ほしい. Since you can't really know what someone else is thinking, using ~がる is a way of ascribing a psychological state to that person based on some kind of overt or apparent behavioural clue. For example,

トムはビールを飲みたがっている。Tom wants to drink beer (= Tom appears to want to drink beer).

その男の子が眠たがっている。That boy wants to sleep (= That boy appears to want to sleep).

お父さんは新しい車を欲しがっている。 My father wants a new car ( = My father appears to want a new car).

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You might think 田中さんはケーキを食べたい means Mr. Tanaka wants to eat cake but this is wrong. You use the たい-form for expressing your own desire only. In such cases, you use ~がる.

Refer for further reading: http://maggiesensei.com/2013/01/15/%e3%80%9c%e3%81%9f%e3%81%84%ef%bc%86%e3%81%8c%e3%82%8b-tai-garu-and-%e3%80%9c%e3%81%8c%e3%82%8agari/

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