I think he was trying to imply that it could be used like "ichiban suki na ___" and just forgot to give us an example.

It's like saying flour means cake. It can make a cake, but they're not the same thing.

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.

Songs are not natural Japanese and i am not sure what movies you are talking about. I am not saying you don't know what you are talking about, but I am telling you as 10+ years as a comfortable speaker of Japanese, these is how I see it.

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.

My advice would be do not try to see Japanese through English lenses. You will be confused. Just take everything on face value and don't analyse too much.

Do NOT use Aishiteiru. It freaks them out and it makes an awkward barrier inbetween you two forever. Trust me. It's sometihng you'd find in movies and TV. Revert to (Name here) ga suki desu/da, depending how much you know this person. It literally translates to (Name) like, since "I" can be ommitted, watashi is left out.

Bottom line: Say "(Name) ga suki desu"

I think this is about the only time anime is useful to learning Japanese (too many guys imitating anime girls by ending their sentences with わ back in my undergrad days *shudder*).

You'll notice that guys almost always say 好きだ to say they love/like a girl.

i love you (japanese)
 

:ywave:
hi thanks for looking
there is probably allready a thread for this
but i would like an answer fast.
:D
.
what is the best way to say 'i love you' to express affection in japanese
ive heard 'aishiteru' but apparenately thats too serious.
'daisuki desu' .?
.
thankyouu
:rheart:
x