嫌がる

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 嫌がる adds がる, outwardly showing a feeling, to 嫌, dislike, and is a godan verb read いやがる.
• Basic usage: It describes another person or animal visibly disliking or resisting an action or object.
  • 犬が雨の中を歩くのを嫌がっています。 describes the dog's current reluctance to walk, while 子どもが嫌がるなら、無理に食べさせないでください。 makes the child's refusal a condition.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Nominalizing an action with の
  • In 雨の中を歩くのを嫌がる, の turns the preceding action into an object and を marks it as what is disliked.
• 嫌がる and 嫌いだ
  • 嫌いだ can directly state the speaker's own dislike. 嫌がる commonly describes aversion inferred from another person's or animal's words, expression, or behavior.
• Condition with なら
  • 子どもが嫌がるなら means if the child actually dislikes or refuses it. It does not generalize that every child dislikes the food.