"すき"
Translation:like
126 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
1776
So is the "u" not pronounced or underpronounced for this word? Or is the speaker just saying it fast? Because it sounds like she is saying "ski"
1555
This is, well it's also a tenten, but usually the word dakuten is used. It makes the consonant voiced. (voiced means that you use your vocal chords while pronouncing it, think of the difference between s and z, they are the same except for the vibrations in your throat, some other unvoiced-voiced pairs are: t d, p b, k g, s z, sh zh (j in japanese), ch j, ts dz)
I saw someone answer already, but i wanted to reccomend a YouTube video titled "Learn All Hiragana in 1 Hour" by the channel JapanesePod101. I learned all my Hiragana there before jumping into DuoLingo and id say it helped tremendously. Take it slow! its an hour long video but it took me 3 weeks to get all the way through it. Go at your own pace!
@Daniele14584
Yep! Duo will start introducing kanji right after the hiragana skills in Intro1 :)
I will say though that kanji is a big enough topic to get a course all in itself so Duo isn't really equipped to teach it in depth. There are multiple apps and books and websites that focus exclusively on teaching kanji. Kanji Garden, Kanji Tree and WaniKani seem to be the top recommended ones by learners here. You can also learn them by using a good dictionary like Jisho.org which provides stroke order, readings, examples, etc.
It seems as though pronouncing the full letter should rarely if ever be "wrong." The issue however is with whether or not native Japanese speakers tend to fully pronounce certain sounds fully or "skip" over them. In English, there are countless cases where some people "skip" syllables in a word even when they shouldn't "really" be skipped, simply because it is what they are used to hearing and/or speaking. As somebody who is attempting to learn Japanese however, it is frustrating to see a lot of sounds on this site not pronounced when we're attempting to learn what sounds each character is supposed to make.
If you're English-speaking, you can think of it in a similar way as "I am" versus "I'm". Skipping vowels for speed and efficiency is a quite common phenomenon in languages. Some languages evolved with time in such a way that they bundle several consonant sounds next to each other (by dropping vowels that once have been in between them). See, for example, the English word "strength", which is one syllable nowadays.
1555
the rule is: drop u and i between two voiceless consonants (in japanese: k, s, h, t, sh, ch, ts, not sure if p is considered voiceless), the i rule only applies if it's a special consonant like sh or ch
That's voiceless vowels for you. :) In Japanese, a vowel occurring between two voiceless consonants tends to be devoiced. The 'u' in "suki" is sandwiched between the voiceless consonants: /s/ (voiceless alveolar fricative) and /k/ (voiceless velar stop) and hence ends up being voiceless. The interesting this is that voiceless vowels aren't an alien thing at all. They are precisely what occur in place of normal vowels when we whisper. So to pronounce "suki" with a devoiced 'u', all you need to do is say the "suk" part as if you were whispering. :)
15
I thought suki meant moon? Is it a different spelling that I'm thinking of, or simply an alternate definition?
165
The meaning of Japanese sentences very strongly depend on the context. You can really yell to your boy/girlfriend "(だい)すき!" to express "I like you (very much)!" even this sentence has no subjects or objects. If your friend asks you "Do you like it?" he may uses "すきですか" (か=question marker), and you can even just simply answer "すきです。" to mean "Yes, I like it."
2021
It is used as an adjective instead. "好き" (すき) Literally means "(You) are liked (by me)" instead of "(I) like (you)" (Terms in parenthesis are implied and can change with context)
Almost, you're missing a few pieces.
First you need some particles. These are pieces of grammar used to mark what each function each word plays in a sentence. Japanese doesn't rely heavily on word order to determine function like languages like English does.
私は寿司が - watashi wa sushi ga ,
は "wa" marks "I" as the topic, the overarching thing we are having a conversation about.
が "ga" marks "Sushi" as the subject, the more specific thing we are relating to ourself.
好き・すき・suki is called a "na" adjective. This is an adjective that functions similar to a noun and it cannot be used to end a sentence. You need to add the copula です desu (functionally similar to the verb "to be")
The full sentence would be
私は寿司が好きです・わたしはすしがすきです・watashi wa sushi ga suki desu
broken into its grammatical components it's like saying (On the topic of me) (Sushi is the thing) (That is likeable
Last note, pronouns are rarely used in Japanese speech. If they can already be implied from context who you are speaking about they can be dropped entirely.
Since the listener can probably assume you're making a comment about yourself a simple 寿司が好きです・"sushi ga suki desu" is enough information to be completely understood. :)
1555
好き is actually an adjective that means "likeable". If something is likeable (好きです), that means you (or someone else) likes it. (あの人が好きです = (someone) likes that person) You can also use it as an adjective: 好きな人 = a person whom (someone) likes.
The thing that likes is given by the topic. 私は日本が好きです。 = I like Japan. Of course, you can leave out anything that's obvious.
1555
Homonyms are very different across languages, especially if they are 0% related. So no, this is just "like" as in the verb. (well actually this is an adjective so it translates more to "likeable" but some words just don't have a good translation)
correct me if i'm wrong, but is this as an adjective rather than a verb? ie something is described as being liked by me rather than 'I like [something]'
because I was looking at verb conjugation and saw that 'sushi ga suki desu' (I like sushi) became the negative 'sushi ga suki de wa arimasen' - so the verb desu (to be) is conjugated instead of 'to like'
idk if this makes any sense lol
That is correct,
It is specifically a な-adjective which functions like a noun so it requires a copula (like です) in order to conjugate and a な suffix to directly link it to a noun 好きな本 (favorite book)
It is actually the nominalized/stem form of the verb 好く "to like" which is now rarely used and mostly replaced with the adjective form instead
107
The accent of the duolingo is confusing let me show you like other words 'ru' and 'mu' sound the same. I hope duolingo will have an update soon
In Japanese it functions as an adjective "likeable, liked" similar to the verb in English "to like".
Expressions such as "like" and "want" are considered feelings that something evokes in you, rather than an action that you can do to something else. You cannot control or actively choose to 'like' or 'want' something. Something instead has a quality of being 'likeable' or 'desirable' in your opinion, much like you can think something as 'cute' or 'scary'.
犬が好きです "I like dogs (dogs are liked by me)"
車が欲しいです "I want a car (a car is desired by me)"
The best way to think of 好き/すき is as an adjective meaning "liked".
私は猫が好きです。
Watashi wa neko ga suki desu.
(lit.) As for me, cats are liked
"I like cats."
In the original Japanese, the grammatical subject "cats" are being described as liked... but since things have to be liked by someone, the は topic is giving context for that.
Our English translation uses a verb instead of an adjective, so that causes a lot of confusion.