Breakdown of titi ha yoru ni kuruma wo untensuruno ga suki de ha arimasen.
はha
topic particle
車kuruma
car
をwo
direct object particle
がga
subject particle
好きsuki
like
にni
time particle
夜yoru
night
〜の〜no
verb nominalizer
で は ないde ha nai
to not be
父titi
father
運転するuntensuru
to drive
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Questions & Answers about titi ha yoru ni kuruma wo untensuruno ga suki de ha arimasen.
What is the difference between the first は in 父は and the が in 運転するのが好きではありません?
- The は after 父 marks 父 as the overall topic of the sentence: “As for my father…”
- The が after the nominalized clause 運転するの marks the subject or focus of the liking/disliking: “(the act of) driving (a car) at night . . . is what he dislikes.”
In short, は sets the topic, while が indicates the grammatical subject inside that topic’s comment.
Why is の used after 運転する, and what does it do here?
The の here is a nominalizer: it turns the verb phrase 運転する (“to drive”) into a noun-like entity, so you can talk about “driving a car at night” as a thing. Grammatically it allows you to attach が and 好きではありません to the entire activity.
Why does the sentence use 好きではありません instead of something like 好きじゃないです or 嫌いです?
- 好きではありません is the polite negative of 好きです, literally “is not liked” (formal).
- 好きじゃないです is more informal/casual (contracted).
- 嫌いです means “to hate” or “to strongly dislike,” which is a different nuance. Saying 好きではありません focuses on “does not like,” a softer negation than 嫌いです.
Why is 夜に marked with に rather than で, and what nuance does it convey?
- に marks a point in time: “at night.”
- で is used for a location or context “in/at” when emphasizing where an action occurs. Here we’re specifying “when” Dad drives (i.e. at night), not “where.”
Could I replace 運転するの with 運転すること? If so, is there a nuance difference?
Yes, you can say 運転することが好きではありません.
- こと and の both nominalize verbs.
- こと is slightly more formal and abstracts the action.
- の often feels more colloquial or concrete, as if referring to the event itself.
In polite writing こと may sound a bit more stiff, but both are grammatically correct here.
Is the word order “夜に車を運転するのが” flexible? What if I said “車を夜に運転するのが…”?
Japanese word order is relatively flexible so long as particles mark each element. You could indeed say:
“父は車を夜に運転するのが好きではありません。”
That still means the same thing. Changing the order may shift slight emphasis (whatever comes earlier is less stressed), but in practice both are natural.