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I'm learning Japanese and one point that confuses me is the use of particles. For this example, if I want to express 'I like you', which one should I use?

Grammatically, 'あなたをすき' seems to be the right one, but some people say they will consider 'あなたはすき' more idiomatic in speech. I understand the latter one could stand for 'for you, I like', but it could also be interpreted as 'you, like (it)' (think of 'あなたはねこをすき'). These two ways of interpreting 'は' seem to have completely different meanings.

Is my understanding of the uses of those particles correct? I'd like to hear more discussion on that.

GoBusto
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shouya
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    Please see: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/3473/%E3%82%92-vs-%E3%81%8C-with-use-against-%E5%A5%BD%E3%81%8D – virmaior May 05 '15 at 09:45
  • @virmaior I see. So the fundamental point is that 好き is not a verb but an adjective right? – shouya May 05 '15 at 09:50
  • I think you might want to separate three things here: は vs が, は vs. を, and the way 好き works (which tends to take Personが好き more than を好き and way more than a contextless は好き). Which do you want to focus on in your question? – virmaior May 05 '15 at 10:09
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    I wrote something related, though it doesn't really answer this question: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/21575/what-is-the-real-correct-translation-of-%E5%BD%BC%E3%81%AF%E5%A5%BD%E3%81%8D%E3%81%98%E3%82%83%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84/21577#21577 By the way, although people do use を with すき these days, the traditionally accepted form is with が, not を. –  May 05 '15 at 10:32
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    IMO を好き is fine in a modifying clause, ok with modal predicates (i.e. not indicative), unnatural with past indicative, very unnatural with present indicative. – user4092 May 05 '15 at 11:23
  • @user4092 I think an answer where you give examples of each would be awesome. – Darius Jahandarie May 05 '15 at 19:37
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    IMO, ◯◯を好きなこと is fine, ◯◯を好きだろう。 is ok, ◯◯を好きだった。is a little unnatural, ◯◯を好きだ。is very unnatural. Impression-wise, が = the one who controls, を = the one who is controled. – user4092 May 06 '15 at 01:18

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