好き, 嫌い, 上手, 下手 (+ が)

If you have said I like sushi in your head and translated it as ×寿司を好きです, you have made the single most common particle error English speakers make in Japanese. The words for liking, disliking, and being good or bad at something — 好き, 嫌い, 上手, 下手, 得意, 苦手 — are na-adjectives, and the thing you like or the skill you have is marked with が, not を. 寿司が好きです. 日本語が上手です. This page explains why が is correct (and why it is not a weird exception at all), covers the 〜のが好き pattern for liking an activity, and warns you about the humility rule that makes 上手 dangerous to use about yourself.

The core rule: が marks what English treats as the object

In each sentence the noun before が — 猫, 料理, 運動 — is what English would call the object of like / be good at. Japanese marks it with が. Learn this pattern once for the whole set:

Why が and not を — these are adjectives, not verbs

The reason English speakers reach for を is that like, dislike, and be good at are transitive verbs in English — they take a direct object. But Japanese does not translate them as verbs. 好き, 上手, 嫌い are na-adjectives: they describe a state, not an action. を is the particle for the direct object of an action verb (パンを食べる "eat bread"). Since there is no action here — nobody is doing anything to the sushi — there is no を-object.

The clean way to feel it is to translate literally: 寿司が好きです is not "I do-like sushi" but "Sushi is likeable (to me)." Now が makes perfect sense — 寿司 is the subject whose state is being described (it is likeable), and 好き is the adjective describing that state. The person who does the liking is the topic, usually left unspoken or marked with は/には.

Here 私は and 妹は are the topics (the experiencers), while 辛い物が is the thing whose likeability/dislikeability is being stated. The が-noun is grammatically the subject of the state.

A whole class moves together

This is not a quirk of three words to memorize in isolation. A large family of Japanese "experiencer" predicates works exactly the same way — the thing experienced takes が:

• ほしい (want): 新しい車がほしい — "a new car is wanted."
• できる (can do): 日本語ができる — "Japanese is do-able."
• 分かる (understand): 意味が分かる — "the meaning is understandable."
• 見える / 聞こえる (be visible/audible): 海が見える — "the sea is visible."
• いる / ある (exist, have): お金がある — "money exists."

Grasp the logic once — the experienced thing is the が-subject of a state — and you inoculate yourself against the を-error across this entire class at once. The full contrast lives on the が vs を with desire and ability page, and the subject-marking side is on が as subject marker.

Liking an activity: 〜のが好き

To say you like doing something — swimming, singing, reading — you can't stick 好き directly onto a verb. You first turn the verb into a noun-like phrase with の (a nominalizer), then mark that whole phrase with が.

[plain verb] + の + が + 好き / 嫌い / 上手 / 下手

The の is what lets an action plug into an adjective built for nouns. 泳ぐのが好き = "the-swimming is likeable." (Note the second clause of the first example: 苦手 makes the activity its topic with は here, but the underlying frame is still 〜のが苦手.)

上手 is for other people — the humility rule

A cultural landmine worth flagging honestly: 上手 (and 得意) are normally used to praise others, not to boast about yourself. Saying 私は日本語が上手です about your own Japanese sounds immodest, even a little comical, to Japanese ears. Japanese social convention prizes humility about one's own abilities.

• To compliment someone else: 上手ですね is warm and standard.
• To talk about your own ability modestly, downgrade: use 得意 ("it's a strength of mine," a touch softer), or hedge with まだまだ ("I've still got a long way to go"), or use できる ("I can").

The reply models the etiquette: deflect the 上手 compliment, and if you do claim a skill, reach for the humbler 得意 with a softener like 少し.

Common Mistakes

1. Marking the liked thing with を. Because English like is transitive, learners default to を. These are adjectives — use が.

2. Using を with 上手 / 得意. Same transitive-verb reflex, same fix.

3. Attaching 好き straight onto a verb. You need the nominalizer の first.

4. Boasting with 上手 about yourself. Grammatically fine, socially off. Downgrade to 得意 / できる.

Key Takeaways

• 好き, 嫌い, 上手, 下手, 得意, 苦手 are na-adjectives; the liked thing / skill takes が, never を.
• They describe a state ("X is likeable"), so the English "object" is really the Japanese subject — the same が-logic as ほしい, できる, 分かる, 見える.
• To like an activity, nominalize the verb with の: 歌うのが好き, 泳ぐのが好き.
• 上手 / 得意 are for praising others; about yourself, use the humbler 得意 with a softener, or できる — boasting with 上手 sounds immodest.