"さんぽが好きです。"
Translation:I like going on walks.
57 Comments
I was super confused about this because both 散歩する (さんぽする) and 歩く (あるく) mean walk but after some quick research i learned that 散歩する means more "to take a walk". For example in English, you wouldnt say "I am going to walk", you'd say "I am going to take a walk", right? Anyone feel free to correct me or elaborate on this
あるく is a verb meaning "to walk" (to a destination). さんぽ is an noun meaning "a walk". する (or polite します) is the verb "to do", so さんぽする would be "to do a walk", so "to take a walk".
My submission of "I like walks" was rejected, and the "correct answer" was "I like walking."
They may need to fix that if this is the case
Well, it has the same spelling and almost exact pronouciation in Cantonese. So it must mean the same thing。。。 ;) Jogging, strolling. A type of activity unlike just walking...步く。Like a morning stroll.
You'd be right, but "take a walk" seems to be more usual in the USA and duolingo reject my "go for a walk" but accepted "take a walk" (something I would never say). It is a bit frustrating having to translate to American as well as learning Japanese.
散歩が好きです。 I like walks.
散歩することが好きです。 Literally: I like (the act of) taking walks. Alternatively: 散歩するのが好きです。
It's important to note that 散歩 is a noun. It means, "walk, stroll". If you want to use it as the verb "to walk, to stroll" you need to to add する for the "doing" part. You can however not use する before the が here, so you have to change the verb into a noun-construct to make the sentence work.
The construct of 何々すること (something-suru-koto), is immensely popular among Japanese people. Basically you add a verb ending to the noun to make it a verb, and then add こと to make it a noun again.
You will meet this in spoken language as well as in written texts, textbooks even.
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Thanks a lot for reminding me about how this structure works, and uncovering the wonderful 何々! You earned a lingot :)
When I first encountered this verb I looked up the meaning in English, but actually we have a similar verb in Spanish - pasear (una traducción más certera quizá sería dar un paseo o ir de paseo?) I don't think there's a verb like that in English actually, but I could be wrong...
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Is promenade a verb? I mean, it comes from French and in that language the verb is "promener", so reading "I promenade through the park" would look very weird to me
Yes, It's a verb. It's an archaic usage, though. You might see it if you read historical fiction.
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Thanks a lot! It's nice to learn interesting things about English in a Japanese course :)
さんぽ is not a verb, it's a noun.
さんぽ = a walk
さんぽが(the walk) すき(likable) です。(to be) = the walk is likable ≈ I like walks
I thought about this problem.
In "さんぽが好きです。" sentence, the "が" particle marks the subject (the doer of action).
What/who? [verb] = subject
If 好き was a verb, then we would have here:
What/who 好き (likes)? >>> さんぽ (it is marked by "が" as subject). So the さんぽ would perform an action of liking.
Is the さんぽ the one who likes something? Can "a walk" have human emotions?
Now you can understand subject only by realising that the "好き" is not a verb but an adjective. The word "です" here is so called linking verb and the word "好き" is a subject complement (a word that describes subject's new quality). The subject here is "a walk" as particle stated.
This is my understanding of this matter. Feel free to argue in constructive way.
Not to be the noob here haha, but the only thing out of all these lessons that I dont get, is the difference between ha(wa) and ga.
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This might help: http://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-particles-cheatsheet/
Certain sentences it depends on context, for others it is a fixed set. Something が すき, the が here is attached to すき as a fixed set.
"I like to go for a walk" was marked wrong - reported, there's no difference between "go for a walk" and "take a walk"...
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If "I like to take a walk." is correct, "I like to go for a walk" should also be correct. I know it's not 散歩する, but a literal translation, (I like walks.) sounds a bit strange to me. Do you say that in English? If "I like going on walks\on a walk." is accepted, "I like going for a walk." should also be accepted.
I believe what is kind of confusing in this sentence is that fact that in here is not talking about an action itself but more like explaining that you like to do something in this case walking. If we break the different verbs though in this case です would be the verb to be 。and います/あります that there is。 Hope that helps a little. Not sure if I explained it right¡ xD
In my understanding it is because ”です” goes after something other than verb. Here the word ”すき” is the adjective (adjective here describes the main element of the sentence, which is the subject and noun in one word - ”さんぽ”), so ”です” is polite form copula (in English it is also called a linking verb), which is used to DESCRIBE qualities of SUBJECT.
[subject]が[new quality]です。
The speaker just stated that "a walk" is "likable". Did you know that??? So for you this information is a statement about new quality of "walks". So now you will now that "walks" are likable and.. cool.
When you have a sentence where the verb is used (the verbs in Japanese are always placed at the end of a sentence) you should use polite form as ます。In my opinion it performs a role of auxiliary particle for expressing something else than action (an action itself is expressed by verb already). Form "ます" expresses politeness and is used for other purposes e.g. expressing tense (ました) and positive/negative character of a sentence (ません or ませんでした).
You cannot say that something is something using "ます", because it cannot perform a role of linking verb between subject of a sentence and subject complement which can be an adjective, noun or adverb. If you try, you will get a sentence without a verb.
In English, in this type of sentences (where you describe something), the word "be" and its derivatives (is, was, were) are ALWAYS the LINKING VERBS. They are used to describe qualities of subject of a sentence.
But, in English, the word for existance is the same - "to be". And here we have a problem. You can simply say "I am". In this sentence the word "to be" is used purely to express existance. So "to be" have two functions (2in1 like dishwashing detergent). It can describe qualities of things and indicate existance. In Japanese these two functions are expressed BY TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT WORDS (linked to different sctructure of sentence).
From the other side, the construction ”います” is a conglomerate of a conjugated form of verb (いる) and auxiliary particle (ます). So we have "います". But, as far as I understand this subject, this form is NOT USED for DESCRIBING subject of a sentence. It is only used to indicate that something exist or not exist. Like in Shakespeare - "To be or not to be, that's the question". Nothing else. No describing or indicating new qualities of subject etc.
This is only my understanding of this matter. Maybe I'm wrong, who knows.
I'm not sure why "I like walks." isn't a valid response, here. If Bise235882 et al are correct below, then さんぽ is a noun, and plurality is ambiguous in a contextual vacuum.
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I think it should be valid, but they just don't have it in their database. Report it so they add it :)
