Mastering the Art of Expressing Likes and Dislikes in Japanese: A Comprehensive Guide

Hi, I am Shingo SATO, a native speaker with more than 10 years of experience teaching Japanese.

If you are learning Japanese, it’s crucial to understand and effectively communicate your emotions and feelings. One of the most important emotions to express is affection, and the phrase “I like” in Japanese is a simple yet powerful way to convey your fondness for something or someone. In this post, I’ll share basic Japanese phrases for expressing “I like” and “I don’t like”, adverbs of degree of liking or disliking, and so on. Let’s get started!

Basic Japanese Phrases for Expressing “I Like”

There are several ways to say “I like” in Japanese. The most commonly used phrase is “好すきです” （suki desu）” , which can mean both “like” and “love.” To say “I like” in Japanese, you can say “好すきです（suki desu） ” for a more formal tone or “好きだ（suki da）” or simply “好すき（suki）” for a more casual tone.

How to Say What You Like （Nouns）

To say what you like, use object and “が（ga）” before “好すきです（suki desu）”, for example, “寿司すしが好すきです。（Sushi ga suki desu）,” which means “I like Sushi.”

Other example sentences are as follows

うどんが好すきです。
Udon ga suki desu.
I like udon noodles.

ゲームが好すきです。
Geemu ga suki desu.
I like video games.

You can use “大だい好すき（daisuki）” to say that you like something very much.

アニメが大だい好すきです。
Anime ga daisuki desu.
I like anime very much.

You can read the following post for more information on this sentence pattern.

Nが好（す）きです

Notice that “が（ga）”is preceded by a noun. Sushi, udon, video games, and anime…… are all nouns. So, can we use verbs? Of course you can.

How to Say What You Like（Verbs）

To say what you like with verbs, you can still use the sentence pattern “〜が好すきです（ga suki desu）”, if you use dictionary form of a verb+の（no） before “が（ga）”. For example, if you want to say “I like watching anime” in Japanese, you can say “アニメを見みるのが好すきです（Anime o miru no ga suki desu）”. 見みる（miru） is the dictionary form of “見みます（mimasu）,” to watch.

Other examples are as follows.

ゲームをするが好すきです。
Geemu o suru no ga suki desu.
I like playing video games.

写真しゃしんを撮とるのが好すきです。
Shashin o toru no ga suki desu.
I like taking pictures.

Of course, you can also use “大だい好すき（daisuki）” .

アニメを見みるのが大だい好すきです。
Anime o miru no ga daisuki desu.
I like watching anime very much.

Basic Japanese Phrases for Expressing “I Don’t Like”

How do you say “I don’t like” in Japanese? There are several ways to say “I don’t like” in Japanese. The most commonly used phrase is “好すきじゃないです” （suki ja nai desu）” or “好すきじゃありません（suki ja arimasen） , which mean “I don’t like” . You can use”好すきじゃないです” （suki ja nai desu）” and “好すきじゃありません（suki ja arimasen） for a more formal tone and “”好すきじゃない” for a more casual tone.

How to Say What You Don’t Like （Nouns）

To say what you like, you can use object and “は（wa）” before “好すきじゃないです” （suki ja nai desu）” or “好すきじゃありません（suki ja arimasen） “, for example, “納豆なっとうは好すきじゃないです。（Natto wa suki ja nai desu）,” which means “I don’t like Natto（fermented soy beans）.” As you can see, in negative sentences, the particle “が（ga）” is often changed to “は（wa）” because the object has often already been said.

Let’s look at an example conversation.

A:日本にほんの食たべ物もの、何なにが好すきですか?
Nihon no tabemono, nani ga suki desu ka?
What is your favorite Japanese food?

B: そばが好すきです。
Soba ga suki desu.
I like soba noodles.

A: 納豆なっとうは?
Nattoo wa?
How about Nattoo?

B: 納豆なっとうは、好すきじゃないです。
Nattoo wa, suki ja nai desu.
I don’t like Nattoo.

You can read the following post for more information about this sentence pattern.

Nは好（す）きじゃないです/好（す）きじゃありません

How to Say What You Don’t Like（Verbs）

Like “How to Say What You Like（Verbs）“, you can use dictionary form of a verb+の（no） before “は（wa）”. For example, if you want to say “I don’t like reading books” in Japanese, you can say “本ほんを読よむのは好すきじゃないです（Hon o yomu no wa suki ja nai desu）” or “本ほんを読よむのは好すきじゃありません（Hon o yomu no wa suki ja arimasen）”. 読よむ（yomu） is the dictionary form of “読よみます（yomimasu）,” to read.

Other examples are as follows.

料理りょうりを作つくるのは好すきじゃないです。
Ryoori o tsukuru no wa suki ja nai desu.
I don’t like to cook.

家いえでゆっくりするのは好すきじゃないです。
Ie de yukkuri suru no wa suki ja nai desu.
I don’t like to relax at home.

Adverbs of Degree of Liking or Disliking

You can use the following adverbs to show how much you like or dislike something.

Adverbs	English translation	Examples	English translation
とても（totemo）	very much	うどんがとても好すきです。（Udon ga totemo suki desu.）	I like udon noodles very much.
あまり（amari）	not very	寿司すしはあまり好すきじゃないです。（Sushi wa amari suki ja nai desu.）	I don’t like Sushi much.
ぜんぜん（zenzen）	not at all	納豆なっとうは、ぜんぜん好すきじゃありません。（Nattoo wa, zenzen suki ja arimasen.）	I don’t like Natto at all.

You can read the following post for more information on “あまり（amari）” and “ぜんぜん（zenzen）”.

【あまり/ぜんぜん】ナA-じゃないです/イA-くないです

Conclusion

In this post, I have shared basic Japanese phrases for expressing “I like” and “I don’t like”, adverbs of degree of liking or disliking, and so on.

I hope this post will help you master the art of saying “I like” in Japanese and convey your emotions and feelings more effectively.