"さかながきらいです。"
Translation:I do not like fish.
52 Comments
Doesn't kirai mean "hate", as a more emphasised form of not liking something? A japanese person would never use a strong word like this unless it is absolutely necessary and/or are with family. Especially not on food.
I've also learned that "kirai" is a strong word, used only in specific cases. Don't you think is more polite to say "suki de wa arimasen"?
So が means this fish (which is likely in front of you) which you don't like or does it mean fish in general? So you use は and が for one or the other? Please enlighten me.
611
It means fish in general. It can be the fish in front of you too but anyway by this you are not saying you don't like this particular one but you don't like it because it is fish. This has nothing to do with using は or が.
I thought 'ga' puts emphasis on the fish, like saying: "It's (the) fish that i dislike." opposed to 'wa' that sets the topic, like saying "About (the) fish, I dislike it." Do you get what I mean? The difference is actually small.
I actually answered i do not like 'the' fish since it used ga instead of wa :( I thought that was how it worked. I'm confused again now :'(
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は vs が is not an easy question for beginners. Make reference to this comment and see if it helps:
は vs が
Both さかながきらいです and さかなはきらいです can mean both "I don't like fish" or "I don't like this fish". The が and は don't change it, but the context can change it. Japanese is very contextual and random sentences like that may confuse people.
Like UetzelBrue said, the difference is on the emphasis. It will depend on the context or the question. Let's see:
さかながきらいです is a suitable answer for the questions "What don't you like?", "What food don't you like?" or "What animal don't you like?" because が put the emphasis on what is before it. I mean, that you do not something is already established by the question, so what is really important is the thing you do not like i.e. fish.
さかなはきらいです is a suitable answer for the questions "Do you like fish?" or "Do you like to eat fish?" because は put the emphasis on what is after it. In this case, the information the person wants to know is your feelings about fish i.e. that you do not like it.
Hope it helps :)
Yes but why is it here incorrect to translate it as The fish then? I'M CONFUSED AGAIN
Yes, in previous sentences we were told that は is for general nouns while が for specific ones. Why doesn't it work in this sentence?
Should it not be like "I do not like THE fish". There is "ga" in there, not "wa"
Kirai is hate right? So wouldnt this be 魚が好きじゃないです。to say "I don't like"
Yea I wrote that too, shouldn't the sentence be talking about a specific fish instead of fishes in general?
Without a context, you should always assume it's something in general, so without the "the". To be specific one should use "kono/sono sakana". If you think about, "I don't like the fish" will not be used in English at all. If you don't like the fish you're eating you'd say "I don't like this fish" (so "kono") and if you don't like the fish the person next to you is eating you'd say "I don't like that fish".
I think (and I'm not 100%) that "I don't like the fish" is meaningless because you don't specify the fisth you are talking about. I mean, "I don't like the fish you brought" makes sense, as well as "I don't like the fish of this restaurant", "I don't like the fish in that aquarium", etc.
You can say 'I do not like the fish' if the context is obvious (telling a waiter your meal is nasty). Is it the same in Nihongo?
Duolingo: Can we please stop penalizing people for using kanji? 魚 isn't exactly high-level stuff.
Exactly! And there isn't an option to report that my answer should be accepted as with other questions
Could you say kirai sagana ga desu? I was always lead to believe that word order is flexible if you use particles to mark words.
No, Japanese doesn't work like that. The particle should be placed after a noun. By the way, your sentence should translates into "Hated fish + subject particle + です" which doesn't even make sense.
Michael, as a general rule (there are exceptions), the main verb is at the end of a sentence in Japanese.
For a second I misread this as "sakana ga kirei desu" which I'm pretty sure means "fish is pretty"
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wow, a joke downvoted, don't worry. Um ano mais tarde e mais alguém percebeu.
Ugh another example where Duo doesn't seem to be accepting the kanji (unless 魚がきらいです is wrong??)
I was not given the option to write "hate" here, only "not like"... seems inaccurate.
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Random pseudo trivia (is it really the fish though?) :
If this was a Portuguese native saying it it could be a pun with friends or family. さかな (sa ka na) sounds exactly (emphasis on EXACTLY) like "sacana" wich is a word for "rogue like" but on a pejorative level it would be translated in english as "bastard" - but not meaning an illegitimate child, just a someone that is... well, a total bastard xD
"Eu também detesto SACANAs. É compreensível." - "I also hate bastards. It's understandable/relatable."
Source: I'm a "Porch-goose" that loves 初音ミク and already made the bad joke above.
I was taught it like this 好き/大好き - like/really like 好きじゃない - dont like きらい - dislike だいきらい - hate
