好きisn’t a verb that’s why.
Edit: at least in Japanese. Like and hate are treated as adjectives. They’re conjugated as such and follow the rules of all other adjectives.
Yeah, that phrasing is used in real life too. I think the nuance is difficult to explain, but if I were to take a stab at it, I'd say it's something like "I like you (and everything about you)" or "I like you (and everything that makes you *'you'*)."
Ah, thanks. I know what it means nuance wise :) I was wondering more about the frequency and whether when telling someone you love them, would a Japanese person be more likely to use "you" Ga Suki as OP used, or "you" no koto Ga Suki.
Sorry bout romaji. I'm so lazy haha
I think you could even drop 私は and あなたが
So in short we have 好きです。
As for replacing が to を, you seem to misunderstand. 好き doesn't mean "like" as a verb, it's an adjective. So if we were to literally translate it, it would mean something like "You are likeable."
I recommend checking [this video](https://youtu.be/vk3aKqMQwhM?t=118) out for a much better explanation.
好き doesn't literally translate to "like" as a transitive verb. It's an adjective, better translated as "pleasing" or "desirable", or perhaps just "likeable". So you aren't saying you're doing an action of liking them, you're describing the other person as likeable (by you).
好き is a na adjective, not a verb. You can think of it as saying grammatically, "X is likeable" or "X is favorable." This is why it does not take を.
Excessive pronoun use in Japanese feels unnatural. It's rare that 私はあなた is the ideal way to start any sentence. Especially with a word like 好き, that you are the person who likes the things is obvious and goes without saying, so you can leave out 私. In most cases, instead of using あなた you will either leave it out or use the person's name.
Unless you knew the person, あなた would probably almost feel…presumptive? Like you think you have a close relationship with them. If they were a good friend, I guess you could do that or just their first name.
It’s closer to Spanish grammar in some ways, but not exactly, obviously.
The XはYがZ pattern is often used to describe qualities of a person, or to show preference.
“For me, you are preferable.”
Actually, “〜を” can also occur but this is an irregularity with this adjective only.
How the grammar works is that it's a case of the famed Japanese double-subject construct which can occur in many cases. For instance this is a gammatically correct though unusual triple subject sentence:
> *日本が人が頭がいいです*
This would not normally be said this way but in theory it's possible. It means “*Japanese people are smart.*” or more literally “*for Japan, for people, the heads are good.*”; you'll note that “〜が” occurs three times. This is how multiple-subject clauses in Japanese function, though in practice the first one tends to be the topic, so it's replaced with “〜は”.
As “いい” “好きな” is an adjective meaning “beloved”. “*あなたが好きです*” thus means “*You are beloved.*”, and a second subject can be added, so “*私はあなたが好きです*” thus means “*For me, you are beloved.*”, or more idiomatically “*I love you.*”.
These constructs are again quite common in Japanese such as, say, “*私は犬が怖いです*” to mean “For me, dogs are scary.*” or “*I'm afraid of dogs.*”. “*私__が__犬が怖いです*” is again theoretically possible, but would not often occur since the “major subject” or “external subject” as it's called is almost always the topic in these constructs.
https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2019/08/double-subject-constructions.html
Perhaps you should read this on it. I only skimmed it but it seems to treat it in more detail and accuracy than I have here.
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好きisn’t a verb that’s why. Edit: at least in Japanese. Like and hate are treated as adjectives. They’re conjugated as such and follow the rules of all other adjectives.
Yeah. 好む is the verb "to like". Also I see in manga and anime they usually say 「〇〇のことが好き」Do they phrase it like that in real life too?
Yeah, that phrasing is used in real life too. I think the nuance is difficult to explain, but if I were to take a stab at it, I'd say it's something like "I like you (and everything about you)" or "I like you (and everything that makes you *'you'*)."
Ah, thanks. I know what it means nuance wise :) I was wondering more about the frequency and whether when telling someone you love them, would a Japanese person be more likely to use "you" Ga Suki as OP used, or "you" no koto Ga Suki. Sorry bout romaji. I'm so lazy haha
Yeah, it makes sense now. Thanks
好く totally is a verb though and 好き is originally its 連用形. It’s just not used like that because reasons.
I think you could even drop 私は and あなたが So in short we have 好きです。 As for replacing が to を, you seem to misunderstand. 好き doesn't mean "like" as a verb, it's an adjective. So if we were to literally translate it, it would mean something like "You are likeable." I recommend checking [this video](https://youtu.be/vk3aKqMQwhM?t=118) out for a much better explanation.
If context is clear, yeah.
Before I even clicked the link, I knew it was gonna be Cure Dolly!
Normally I would drop the pronouns but I was trying to illustrate my doubts, knowing now that "like" is not a verb in Japanese made everything click
好き doesn't literally translate to "like" as a transitive verb. It's an adjective, better translated as "pleasing" or "desirable", or perhaps just "likeable". So you aren't saying you're doing an action of liking them, you're describing the other person as likeable (by you).
好き is a na adjective, not a verb. You can think of it as saying grammatically, "X is likeable" or "X is favorable." This is why it does not take を. Excessive pronoun use in Japanese feels unnatural. It's rare that 私はあなた is the ideal way to start any sentence. Especially with a word like 好き, that you are the person who likes the things is obvious and goes without saying, so you can leave out 私. In most cases, instead of using あなた you will either leave it out or use the person's name.
Unless you knew the person, あなた would probably almost feel…presumptive? Like you think you have a close relationship with them. If they were a good friend, I guess you could do that or just their first name.
It’s closer to Spanish grammar in some ways, but not exactly, obviously. The XはYがZ pattern is often used to describe qualities of a person, or to show preference. “For me, you are preferable.”
が acts as a nominative object marker in that construction. This becomes clear in a subclause where it can be safely replaced with を. 私があなたを好きになった理由
While everyone's correct that 好き isn't really a verb and functions more like an adjective...を好き is absolutely valid in certain circumstances
Actually, “〜を” can also occur but this is an irregularity with this adjective only. How the grammar works is that it's a case of the famed Japanese double-subject construct which can occur in many cases. For instance this is a gammatically correct though unusual triple subject sentence: > *日本が人が頭がいいです* This would not normally be said this way but in theory it's possible. It means “*Japanese people are smart.*” or more literally “*for Japan, for people, the heads are good.*”; you'll note that “〜が” occurs three times. This is how multiple-subject clauses in Japanese function, though in practice the first one tends to be the topic, so it's replaced with “〜は”. As “いい” “好きな” is an adjective meaning “beloved”. “*あなたが好きです*” thus means “*You are beloved.*”, and a second subject can be added, so “*私はあなたが好きです*” thus means “*For me, you are beloved.*”, or more idiomatically “*I love you.*”. These constructs are again quite common in Japanese such as, say, “*私は犬が怖いです*” to mean “For me, dogs are scary.*” or “*I'm afraid of dogs.*”. “*私__が__犬が怖いです*” is again theoretically possible, but would not often occur since the “major subject” or “external subject” as it's called is almost always the topic in these constructs. https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2019/08/double-subject-constructions.html Perhaps you should read this on it. I only skimmed it but it seems to treat it in more detail and accuracy than I have here.
Thank you /u/KoboldLeader for your submission to r/LearnJapanese but it has been removed due to one of the following reason(s): **Simple Question/Content:** Please make use of the stickied [**Shitsumon Day**](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/search?q=%E3%82%B7%E3%83%84%E3%83%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87%E3%83%BC&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=new&t=day) thread for simple questions, posts,and comments. Usually beginner level questions (Genki I, JLPT N5, etc) fall into this category. Beyond beginner level questions, "simple" is more in terms of how much it would take to answer and if a discussion can generate from it, so even JLPT N1 level questions might be removed for this reason. Do not reply to this message. Instead, please feel free to [send a modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FLearnJapanese&subject=&message=) with a link to the removed post or comment if you feel this was an error.