I love you too

[pizzicatogo]

Hello everyone, I have a couple of questions about a couple of things I guess. All of them are related to Japanese language though, so here we go.

1) Why does 愛してる use を instead of が like 大好き?

example: a) 君を愛してる。
b) ケーキが大好き。

2) If someone were to say "I love you", how would you say "I love you too"?

example: Sally) tomを愛してる
Tom) Sallyも愛してる (would this be correct?)

Tom) 私もSallyを愛してる (this is wrong right? it basically says I
love sally too right?)

Thank you

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by pizzicatogo

Hello everyone, I have a couple of questions about a couple of things I guess. All of them are related to Japanese language though, so here we go.

1) Why does 愛してる use を instead of が like 大好き?

example: a) 君を愛してる。
b) ケーキが大好き。

Because 愛してる is a transitive verb, so it needs an object. However, 大好き is not a verb at all! It is an adjective meaning "very pleasing." This is a technical explanation that will hopefully clear things up
私はケンさんがすきだ <--the Japanese
I-topic Ken-subject pleasing COPULA. <--semantic markup/translation
As for me, Ken is pleasing. <--literal translation
Ken is pleasing to me. <--more clear English
I like Ken. <-- natural English

Do you see? The Japanese more literally means "Ken is pleasing to me," but this sounds awkward in English, so we alter the translation to "I like Ken."

Spanish has the same problem:
Me gusta agua.
To-me pleases water.
Water pleases me.
I like water.

A lot of new speakers try to say
Yo gusto agua.
I please water.

[pizzicatogo]

Ah thanks. I think I understand the answer as you explained it. I was never too good with intransitive versus transitive. I get them mixed up...same with particles hehe.

Anyway, how about my second question? I am having way more trouble with that really. I don't get what the proper way to say "I love you too" would be. It seems like it's so easy in English to say it. The whole "I love you" is emphasized with the too, but in Japanese it seems like it's not so simple. I really don't know

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by pizzicatogo

Ah thanks. I think I understand the answer as you explained it. I was never too good with intransitive versus transitive. I get them mixed up...same with particles hehe.

Anyway, how about my second question? I am having way more trouble with that really. I don't get what the proper way to say "I love you too" would be. It seems like it's so easy in English to say it. The whole "I love you" is emphasized with the too, but in Japanese it seems like it's not so simple. I really don't know

This dictionary is rife with examples that give you exactly what you need for many circumstances: “i love you too”の検索結果（19 件）：英辞郎 on the Web：スペースアルク

Personally, if my baby said it to me, I'd just respond with オレも, but that's the kind of guy I am.

Another choice is オレも好きだよ. Of course, you can't say this if you're a girl.