のが好き (no ga suki) Meaning Japanese Grammar - Love Doing

The expression のが好(す)き (no ga suki) means like doing, love doing.

In this post we'll analyse together the use of 好(す)きな as Adjective in な in its attributive and predicative function and the structure のが好(す)き that is used preceded by a verb.

I'll also add various phrases of daily use with the structure のが好(す)き and some extracts from original material on the Net.

I like: use of the Adjective 好(す)きな

好(す)き is a noun and with the addition of the particle な it becomes an adjective in な with the meaning of predilect, favoured, preferred.

In the attributive function 好(す)きな precedes the noun:

• 好(す)きな曲(きょく) the favourite song
• 好(す)きな国(くに) the favourite country
• 好(す)きな人(ひと) the person I like

In the predicative function 好(す)きな loses the particle な and is followed by the copula だ in the plain form and です in the polite form.

If a Japanese friend asks you what is your 大(だい)好(こう)物(ぶつ) daikōbutsu , he wants to know your favourite dish / food.

The quoted sentence is taken from a Video on YouTube posted by a guy talking about the reactions 反(はん)応(のう) and the behaviour of girls that boys particularly like.

The phrase we are interested in for this post is:

I like a lot, I adore, I love

If we like very much a thing, a person, a situation we have several simple ways of saying it:

• とても好(す)だ we use the adverb meaning very much
• or we use the kanji 大 great, huge, big and have the expression 大(だい)好(す)だ
• the young commonly use instead めっちゃ which replaces とても, as we heard in the previous audio

Two comments on music videos, with informal expressions:

In the colloquial context, we can translate the expression in various ways, following the new expressions common among young people.

The particle が is often omitted in informal and colloquial speeches.

I like doing: use of the structure のが好(す)き

The structure のが好(す)き is used when we express what we like through a verb.

If we like reading we can use this structure and say:

or we can use the Noun 読(どく)書(しょ) reading.

The same structure is used with other adjectives in な or in い.

For example:

• のが上手: be good at doing something
• if we are not good or inclined to do a certain thing, the structure is: のが苦(にが)手(て)だ

I don't like it

The negative form of the structure のが好(す)き is obtained with the negative of the copula:

• だ in the plain form becomes ではない or じゃない
• です in the polite form becomes ではありません or じゃありません

Another common way of saying I don't like something uses an adjective in the affirmative form, but with a negative meaning: 嫌(きら)い for all the things or situations that we dislike or hate.

Examples of のが好(す)き

In this last sentence, we find the use of the Adjective in な: のが好(す)きな followed by the noun 人(ひと) human, person, someone.