to want to
Third Person
Structure
- Verb[stem] + たがる
- Verb[stem] + たがっている
[ Used to describe wish/desire of someone other than speaker/writer. Literal translation: たがる - to show signs of wanting to ; たがっている - to be showing signs of wanting to]
In the example sentence…
あの子(は)帰りたがるならいいんじゃない。
If that kid wants to go home, that’s alright, isn’t it?
Is じゃない this future grammar point? - じゃないか isn’t it.
Also what function is ん doing in that sentence? I am very curious and slightly confused, any insight would be so very welcome! ^_^!
I think the speaker is either adding emphasis or seeking an explanation (or just being causal). I assume you’ve done the N5L2 (8) already?
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Your totally right! It is [～んです・のです]. It’s quite concerning I wasn’t able to notice it in its shortened form. I think I might reset its reviews to help kick-start it back in my brain.
And yes, I have been following the Bunpro order of grammar, so I get all those lovely context sentences with only grammar I know.
P.S. cheers for answering both my questions, your my new bestest friend ^_^!
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It’s annoying that んです and でしょう are both in Genki chapter 12 as they appear in so many example sentences before that chapter if you are following the Genki path. I’m just doing Chapter 11 now (hence why I’m reading this 1 year old thread!) and haven’t learned them properly yet but I have seen them everywhere by this point!
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What exactly is the difference between たがる and たがっている?
- 彼は動物園に行きたがる。
vs - 彼は動物園に行きたがっている。
Is it something like “(Judging his behaviour lately, ] it seems that he wants to go to the zoo.” vs “(Judging his behaviour right now, ] it seems that he wants to go to the zoo.”?
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Hey 
Very good question!
がる expresses general statement or habit.
がっている expresses current situation.
So:
人は金持ちになりたがる。
People want to get rich.
とらこは新しい車を買いたがっている。
Torako wants to buy a new car.
That is all to it 
I hope it helps,
Cheers!
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Thanks! That makes sense. I’m still struggling a bit with “彼は動物園に行きたがる。” from the examples (and a few others, e.g. “彼女は最近の映画を見たがる。”). It’s translated as “He wants to go to the zoo.”, which sounds more like the current situation statement, and yet it uses the general statement/habit grammar.
Is it using the wrong Japanese form? Or would there be a better English translation? Is it one of these things that just can’t be easily expressed in English?
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It still expresses habit/general statement in this case 
彼は動物園に行きたがる
Means:
He wants to go to the Zoo (as always/habitually).
It expresses habit or his general state of mind.
彼は動物園に行きたがっている。
He wants to go to the Zoo (at this time).
I hope it makes it a bit clearer,
Cheers!
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Hello!
I feel a bit stupid, but why does the answer to this question is “行きたがる” and not ”いったがる”？
彼は動物園に＿＿＿＿
The verb in the hint is just 行く so I expected to use its conjugation: 行ったがる
The verb stem is 行き like 行きます. So verb stem +たがる is 行きたがる “(they) want to go”. I don’t don’t what order of lessons your doing, but another thing that might help the way you think of it is how you make simple “I want to verb” statements.
行く→行きたい → I want to go
行きたいがる→someone other than me wants to go
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Ah, gosh. I was stupid indeed! Somehow I was thinking about past tense of the verb, even though the grammar point was about “3rd person wanting to do”. Thanks for the explanation!