1

In 私の好きな歌何ですか？, why 好きな is not 好きの?

jarmanso7
  • 6,641
  • 2
  • 16
  • 41
imgg
  • 113
  • 3
  • 2
    Are you familiar with な adjectives? – Leebo Sep 23 '22 at 03:11
  • 2
    私の好きな歌何ですか -- You probably meant to write 私の好きな歌は何ですか? but it'd be strange to ask "What's my favorite song?", don't you think? – chocolate Sep 23 '22 at 05:13
  • 1
    Can you add more context to your question please (example sentences, sources, where did you hear 好きの and 好きな...) ? – jarmanso7 Sep 23 '22 at 16:02
  • @Chocolate "probably meant to write は". Not necessarily. In crass spoken japanese, especially in manga and anime, people will leave out particles like は very commonly. Not every sentence has to be written with perfect literature-quality grammar. – chausies Sep 25 '22 at 05:53

2 Answers2

1

why 好きな is not 好きの?

It is 好きな and not 好きの because 好き is a so-called na-adjective (in Japanese, 形容動詞{けいようどうし}) , and the way to connect a na-adjective to a noun in the present tense is by using the copula な. For more details on na-adjectives, take a look here.

Here you are some examples of pairs na-adjective/noun:

好{す}きな食{た}べ物{もの}。A likable food (or more naturally in English, "food [I] like").

綺麗{きれい}な写真{しゃしん}。 A beautiful photograph.

素敵{すてき}なドレス。 A lovely dress.

Finally, for the sake of completeness, note that:

  1. There's another group of adjectives in Japanese, the so-called i-adjectives, which do not use a particle and precede directly the noun they modify.
  2. Nouns can also modify other nouns by using the particle の. Some people call them no-adjectives but this is controversial. To make it more confusing, some na-adjectives sometimes take the particle の (see why is it that some 形容動詞 accepts の after it while some only accepts な after it?).
jarmanso7
  • 6,641
  • 2
  • 16
  • 41
  • Awesome answer and sorry a lot for the late accept! – imgg Aug 28 '23 at 20:06
  • I'm glad it helped! this site is run by people volunteering their time, so no need to apologise at all, everyone of us is busy and time is limited, the important thing is to help each other :) – jarmanso7 Aug 28 '23 at 21:53
-4

To preface, 99% of the time, one should use 好きな_____ when describing something one likes. A somewhat relevant exception is "noun+好き (read zuki)", which is used to describe a "noun-lover". For example, "野球好きの人と会いたい" (I want to meet someone whose a baseball lover).

That being said, if I'm not mistaken, 好きの____ can see use when talking about something (or someone) in particular. For the most part, you should avoid using it, since it's highly nuanced/context-dependant and is hardly better than 好きな____. Nevertheless, I'll give you 2 examples.

  • "好きの子の前で死んでたまるか?!?" (Like I'd ever die in front of the girl I love!)
  • "先生の好きの人って僕ですか？" (Is the person sensei likes...me?).
chausies
  • 1,955
  • 6
  • 22
  • 3
    「好きの 」が可能なのは「女[好]{ず}きの山田」「パン[好]{ず}きの牛乳」「猫[好]{ず}きの人」のように「noun+[好]{ず}き」の形の時くらいしか思いつかないです – chocolate Sep 23 '22 at 06:12
  • @Chocolate I've known japanese for over 15 years. I literally said in my post that, in basically every case, one should avoid 好きの. But the fact is that it does see use (very rarely), and I literally described examples where I have seen it in use in actual japanese media. And I'm not just talking about cases like 野球好きの人. For example, 好きの人 sees relatively common use, and is solely applied to "a particular person one likes". There are other similar examples. Consider not downvoting my post, as it's literally based in verifiable use of the language that you can easily find if you look up. – chausies Sep 25 '22 at 06:11
  • 1
    でも、日本語は私の母語なので…。私たち日本語母語話者は、"a particular person one likes" を「好きの人」とは言わないんですよ。。。😟 So.. if there's anything I can do for you to improve your post, don't hesitate to ping me! – chocolate Sep 25 '22 at 06:49
  • @chocolate 分かりました. たしかに僕の答えが少なくとも紛らわしかったです。その過ちを認めます。それでも、どうしても「好きの人」とかを聞いたことがあると思うけどね....ですが日本語母語話者が「そんなことありえない」っていってるなら、きっと僕のほうが間違ってます。すみませんでした。 – chausies Sep 25 '22 at 07:34
  • 答えをちょっと変更してみました。I hope this time, it's more on point. – chausies Sep 25 '22 at 08:16
  • Related: why is it that some 形容動詞 accepts の after it while some only accepts な after it? – jarmanso7 Aug 25 '23 at 01:57
  • @chausies Not a downvoter, but judging by the 3 upvotes of the first comment by Chocolateさん, the consensus seems to be that 好きの is not really an option outside constructions such as 野球好きの人. My suggestion is that you post the sources of Japanese media where you have found other usages of 好きの and maybe it can spark a constructive discussion about it. – jarmanso7 Aug 25 '23 at 02:08