Learn Hardcore Japanese: watasi ha sono kuruma ga suki desu.

は is the topic marker. It tells the listener that 私 (“I”) is the theme of the sentence—“As for me…”. It doesn’t mark the grammatical subject (which is handled by が here); it simply sets the frame for what you’re talking about.

Why is が used after その車 instead of を?

In Japanese, 好き is a な-adjective (adjectival noun), not a transitive verb. The thing you like becomes the grammatical subject of “is likable,” so it takes the subject particle が. You cannot use を because there is no direct-object verb “to like” here—the structure is literally “That car is likable (to me).”

What’s the difference between the topic (は) and the subject (が) in this sentence?

The topic (私) is what the sentence is “about”—it sets the context: “As for me…”. The subject (その車) is the entity that “performs” or “undergoes” the predicate—in this case, “is likable.” English often merges topic and subject, but Japanese separates them: は → topic/theme; が → subject/experiencer.

What part of speech is 好き?

好き is a な-adjective (sometimes called an adjectival noun). It needs だ/です to complete its predicative form. When modifying a noun directly, you attach な: e.g. 好きな車 (“a car [that I] like”).

How do you form the negative (“don’t like”) version?

Replace です with its negative form. Polite: 私はその車が好きではありません。 (or 好きじゃありません). Plain: 私はその車が好きじゃない。

How would you ask someone whether they like that car?

Introduce “you” as topic with あなたは, keep が, and add the question particle か:
あなたはその車が好きですか？
If context is clear, you can even drop あなたは and say その車が好きですか？

Can you drop 私 and still be understood?

Yes. Pronouns are often omitted when they’re clear from context. Simply saying その車が好きです。 usually implies “I like that car.”

Could you replace は with が and say 私がその車が好きです?

No. You can’t have two が in this simple clause. If you marked 私 with が, it would clash. To express “I like that car,” keep 私は…が好き. Using 私が would require a different sentence structure.

What nuance does explicitly adding 私は give?

Stating 私は adds emphasis or contrast: “I, personally, like that car,” perhaps implying “but others might not” or “as for me rather than someone else.”

What does その mean, and how is it different from この or あの?

These are Japanese demonstratives:

この = “this” (close to speaker)
その = “that” (close to listener or just mentioned)
あの = “that over there” (far from both)
Use その車 when you and your listener both know which car you’re talking about, especially if it’s nearer to them or already in the conversation.

Why are there spaces in 私はその車が好きです。?

Native Japanese text typically doesn’t use spaces. Here they’re added for learners to see each word and particle clearly. In real writing it appears as 私はその車が好きです。