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Can someone explain the usage of a na-adjective with the を particle?

I cannot understand why we can say

ほうれん草を嫌いな人もいる。

because I'd thought that it had to be a が or の particle instead of an を.

Also, why can we say

きみがなぜジャズを嫌いか私にはわからない。

Shouldn't it be きみがなぜジャズが嫌いか私にはわからない?

(Source: tatoeba.org)

Earthliŋ
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Pacerier
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2 Answers2

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The answer to this is that generally speaking, you can't use を with na-adjectives. This is not standard usage for most na-adjectives. Additionally, although Google searches also attest this kind usage for 嫌い (at least), the Tanaka Corpus is known to have errors, so it's best to be careful.

A google search for "を嫌い" shows that the large majority of results, the を is clearly being used with some other verb, e.g. Xを嫌いになった。 However, in some, it is used in the way you noted, as in the following example:

  • Yを嫌いなワケについて語られていた。

This を is clearly attached to 嫌い, not 語る. So, back to your question: why? As @Axioplase's answer suggests, this is primarily seen with 好き and 嫌い, and so I argue that the reason you see を with these "na-adjectives" is that they are derived from the verbs 好く and 嫌う, respectively. They are both transitive verbs, and as such, accept objects readily. As such, using を with them in certain circumstances is not odd at all, though it may seem so when considered primarily as na-adjectives rather than verbs. I hypothesize that this usage is common with verb-derived na-adjectives, but not other na-adjectives.

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rintaun
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  • thanks alot =D btw besides 嫌い and 好き can you think of 1 or 2 other verb-derived na-adjectives ? – Pacerier Jul 10 '11 at 20:30
  • @Pacerier Nope! Sorry. I'll let you know if I do, though. – rintaun Jul 10 '11 at 21:55
  • ok i'll be waiting =P – Pacerier Jul 11 '11 at 11:36
  • In strict grammar it'd be wrong though. If you want to be Japanese grammar nazi, you can insist on usage of either `Yを嫌うワケ` or `Yが嫌いなワケ` – syockit Jul 17 '11 at 12:22
  • 〜を嫌いになる is really interesting! But なる is actually intransitive, so I'm not sure we can explain the accusative case assignment that way, either. –  Jul 29 '15 at 08:49
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I think it's just a nuance (which I don't understand very well) and that in some situations, having を (at least for 好き and 嫌い) instead of の or が helps reading the sentence which may have already too many other の's and が's and be too ambiguous.

Axioplase
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