LingakuLesson 18 of 126
The lesson
2.2 Likes and Dislikes
Overview
In Japanese, likes and dislikes are expressed using adjectives, not verbs.
The general pattern is: X は Y が 好き／嫌い です
は sets the topic of the sentence. が marks the thing that is liked or disliked.
Even though English uses the verb “like”, Japanese treats 好き and 嫌い as descriptions of a feeling or state (“X is likeable/liked” or “X is dislikeable/disliked”).
When the topic is clear from context, は can be omitted.
大好き and 大嫌い add emphasis but use the same sentence structure.
Dialogue
きょう、こうえんにいきました行きました。 こうえんで、ねこといぬをみました見ました。
わたくし私はねこがすき好きです。 とくに、しろいねこがだいすき大好きです。
でも、いぬはあまりすき好きではありません。 おおきい大きいいぬはすこし少しこわいです。
Today, I went to the park. At the park, I saw cats and dogs.
I like cats. Particularly, I really like white cats.
But I don’t like dogs very much. Big dogs are a little scary.
My friend likes dogs. But he dislikes cats.
Depending on the person, what people like is different.
New words
Grammar
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