Quote:
Originally Posted by Tangram
I hear it pretty often, but of course, my only experience is movies, songs, and such. I'm not trying to say that it's the way the term is supposed to be used, but it does seem (at least from the movies I've seen) that it is used that way at times.
|
Tangram, I think I understand what you are trying to say but I can also see where you got it a bit mixed.
The word "like" is a transitive verb in English. The strict equivalent of that word in Japanese is actually 好く (Suku・五段活用他動詞).
E.g. I like cats. （わたしは）猫を好いている。
Unfortunately, 好く is one of those words that makes sense in practice but not used in everyday speech.
The word 好き is strictly a noun/na adjective (名詞・形容動詞)
Normally it can be used to prefix a noun to describe something that one likes. It functions as a regular adjective.
There is no English equivalent of an adjective that has this function and I think that's what's causing all the confusion. "Favourite" is very close but it's not the same as "Like".
好きな色 A colour that I like
好きな人 A person that I like/love
--------------------
～が好きだ I like X
～が嫌いだ I hate X
These are
fixed expressions. Just remember them and don't try to pick out grammatical patterns because there is none.