ゲームを____子供に外で遊んでもらった方がいいと思う。[する]
The only accepted answer to this question was したがる. Is there any reason したがっている wouldn’t be accepted too/instead?
3 Likes
It is alright to say したがっている。Though したがる is more common.
1 Like
Interesting. I’m surprised because their desire to play games is probably pretty constant.
@seanblue I think that it is similar to how you would express this sentence in English. Is it more common to say “I think children who want to play video games should be made to play outside” or “I think children who are wanting to play video games should be made to play outside”? The first sounds more natural to me, which leads me to believe that it is more commonly used. Cheers!
2 Likes
But I think we both know that what is common in one language is not necessarily what is common in the other. I’ve tried to stop remembering Japanese grammar by saying “it’s the same as English” (when that’s the case) because very often it’s not the same as English. In the case of ている in particular, it is often used differently than how the progressive form is used in English.
I believe both of you when you say したがる makes more sense than したがっている for this sentence. I’m just trying to figure out why this sentence doesn’t follow the same pattern as 結婚している or お腹が空いている where ている is used for an ongoing state. Perhaps it is because wanting to play is more transient than those other two examples? Hmm… 
2 Likes
To understand it, we have to look at がる from a wider perspective.
がる - to show signs of
たがる - to show signs of wanting to - points habitual action, general truth, or future action. Present simple, future simple etc.
たがっている - to be showing signs of wanting to - progressive tense. Present continuous, future continuous etc.
In other words:
「彼はいまバーガーを食べたがっている。」and「彼はいまバーガーを食べたがる。」
The first example is correct. We have a word “いま”, which tells us we need a progressive tense.
「彼はバーガーを見るとすぐに食べたがっている。」and「彼はバーガーを見るとすぐに食べたがる。」
The second example is correct because we have habitual action here.
Tricky:
いま彼がバーガーを見たらすぐに食べたがるだろう。
If he saw a burger now, he would like to eat it immediately.(guess, based on someone’s tendency)
18 Likes
Thanks that makes sense! If you guys had the “Solution” feature on Discourse I’d mark that post as the solution. 
3 Likes
By the way: Could you please integrate this grammar point (たがる, Lesson N4-3) into the Genki I learning path. In the book it’s introduced in Lesson 11, or Lesson 14, respectively.
1 Like
Yes! 
I will notify the person responsible for managing paths.
1 Like