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- "I hate rice."
"I hate rice."
Translation:ごはんがきらいです。
28 Comments
I used to really dislike it as a child. Then I once tried a Japanese recipe and now i love rice.
In addition to BJCUAI, I would say that 嫌い has a generaly negative feeling. You could say 好きじゃない and it would also be 'do not like.'
These are all very blunt ways to say dislike:
好きじゃない I don't like it
嫌い I hate it
大嫌い I really dislike it / hate it /don't like it
This would be more polite if talking about food:
Nounがにがてです。I do not like (noun)
Depending how you use it it can also be 'not good at.'
You can also use this verb when talking about people:
かれをにくむ I hate him / despise him
No. To hate is 嫌う（きらう）. To dislike is 好まない （このまない）. きらい is a strong dislike, just as hate is in English.
It might be helpful if you gave a reason as to why you think that they were both represented as the same meaning, because they are not.
Why is this "I hate rice" [in the world] and not "I hate the rice" [they serve here]?
Japanese is a highly contextual language. As there is no reason to assume that the 'hated rice' is only the rice currently being served or only the rice at a certain establishment there would be no need to clarify which rice is being referenced; it becomes a blanket statement.
The fact that が is used here shows that the AはBが sequence is being used, with something being omitted. Again, as context has not demonstrated that anything specific is being referred to, the most likely construction would be: 私はごはんがきらいです - 'I hate rice'.
If in reply to the question: 'Of all this restaurants menu items, which do you hate?', it would make more sense for this sentence to have the second meaning you mentioned. Still, it would be unlikely for someone to phrase it such. It would be more common to say:
（私は）このみせのごはんがきらいです。
or
このごはんはあまりすきじゃない。/ このごはんはまずいです。
Grammatically, yes. In very casual spoken conversation it can be omitted, but this is not the manner of usage that Duolingo is aiming for.
Does this mean that the speaker hates all rice or what is front of them? I ask because people around here (and Duolingo) keep insisting that wa is more "general" than GA. Here however we see that GA is used as implying a more general idea, that is to say that the speaker HATES all RICE (I hate rice) and not just a specific rice. If KONO GOHAN was used, it would use WA, right? As in KONO GOHAN WA KIRAI DESU????
Using 'ga' is the more standard form, and it specifies that rice is the subject which is hated.
Using 'wa' is less common, but it indicates that rice is a subject (among other food items, possibly including bread) which is hated.
このご飯は嫌いです isn't really restricting the hatred of rice to this specific one in particular, but might include other types.
このご飯が嫌いです is focusing squarely on 'this is the rice which is hated'.
Keep in mind that this is coming after the implied 私 and its accompanying particle は, and the wa-ga sequence is in effect.
*I hope that there's some sense in this post. It's a bit hard to explain は and が, as you might have observed ;)
nevermind, I found this article if anyone is interested: http://nihonshock.com/2010/02/particles-the-difference-between-wa-and-ga/ (apparently it's pretty complicated)
Thanks. I was looking for that article... I read it a long time ago but I think I needed to read it again to clear some confusion and gaps in my knowledge that Duolingo has made me realize I have :)
Now that I understand a little more Japanese, I think I can spot translation differences. correct me id I am wrong but the correct translation would be "rice is hated (by me)" right? I mean if GA shows the subject, than rice is the subject, not "I". I understand that Japanese omit words but if we wanted the full sentence, I hate meat would translate as "watashi ga neku wo(?) kirai desu" right?
I'm actually curious as to why it's が and not を actually.
As I understand the entire un-ommited line would be,
”私はごはんをきらいです”
The 私 can be omitted so the phrase, as I unstand it, should be,
“ごはんをきらいです”
So why が and not を?
を is placed before a verb to indicate direct object. 好き and 嫌い are not verbs, they are na-adjectives. Adjectives cannot be direct objects. It might help to think of them as 'liked' or 'hated'.
