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好き is an adjective in Japanese but in English it would be a verb. Why does does it become an adjective instead of a verb?

ethan
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    Some related links: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/42493/is-suki-an-adjective-and-a-verb/42497#42497 https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/4611/what-does-the-verb-%e5%a5%bd%e3%81%8f-do https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/13127/why-does-%e5%a5%bd%e3%81%8d-use-%e3%81%aa/13128#13128 – user3856370 Aug 18 '18 at 08:47
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    Why is it a verb in English? –  Aug 18 '18 at 16:37
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    Why って聞かれても・・・ Because it's 感情表現(感情形容詞), maybe?? like.. 「～が嫌いだ」「～が[嫌]{いや}だ」「～が楽しみだ」「～が心配だ」「～が憎い」「～が怖い」「～が[愛]{いと}しい」「～が欲しい」「～がしたい」 – chocolate Aug 19 '18 at 01:58
  • Because Japanese is not a translation of English. I learned Japanese from scratch with as little parallels drawn between it and English as possible, starting with calling the word classes unique things (verbal, adjectival, and nominal - with na-nominals like 好き being a subset of nominals) (JSL textbook). It helps with a lot of things to not think in terms of English. Not saying there are no linguistic parallels to be drawn, but I'm also saying Japanese doesn't even have real adjectives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_equivalents_of_adjectives – weirdalsuperfan Aug 19 '18 at 13:27

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Japanese grammar reflects their way of thinking. In English "to like" is an action that you do to a thing, but in Japanese "be liked" is a quality that a thing has. If you think it like that it's easier. The subject particle is が, so the thing that you like must be marked with it. The person who likes it must take the particle of topic, は. For example, 私はりんごが好きです means I like apples (or apples are liked things for me).

Fernando
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好き can be used as a verb, like パンが好き (I like bread,) as well as an adjective 好きな人. Or for that matter, as a noun, 男好き.

"Why does it become an adjective instead of a verb" is a strange question to me, because it implies you think it shouldn't be an adjective, but I find it quite natural that it takes that form, like "favorite."

Kohsuke Kawaguchi
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    好き can be used as a verb, like パンが好き -- でも・・国語辞典には、「彼は酒が好きだ」の「好き」は形容動詞だって・・・ as a noun, 男好き -- でも・・国語辞典には、「酒好き」「派手好き」「人好きのする」...などの「[好]{ず}き」は造語成分だって・・・ – chocolate Aug 18 '18 at 16:10