is suki an adjective and a verb?


I thought that "suki" was a verb which meant "to like". It is hard to me to
make sense why it seems to be always used with "desu".

Now in a webpage I read that suki is an adjective, which means something like
"liked" like some sort of passive voice I guess? That's why it uses the verb
desu almost always I supposed. But I also see in another webpage that suki is
a verb with all its conjugations.

The question is, is it suki an adjective, a verb, or both, and if it's also a
verb, when it's used like a verb with its respective conjugations and without
desu? (Assuming it can be used without desu.)




好き _suki_ is a difficult word.

What is clear is that it derives from the verb 好く _suku_ , which is still in
use (most often in the passive voice: 好かれる "to be liked").

However, like the 連用形 _ren'yōkei_ " _masu_ -stem" of so many other verbs, it
took on a life of its own, primarily as what is quite naturally analyzed as
形容動詞 _keiyōdōshi_ " _na_ -adjective".

Hence we have

>   1. 〇〇が好きです  
>  〇〇 _ga suki desu_  
>  cf. 〇〇がきれいです
>
>   2. 好き **な** 〇〇  
>  _suki **na**_ 〇〇  
>  cf. きれい **な** 〇〇
>
>

A literal translation might be "X is _likeable/nice_ ", which equates to "I
like X".

* * *

Note that 嫌い _kirai_ (from 嫌う _kirau_ , also often seen in the passive 嫌われる)
works almost exactly the same.




好き _suki_ is a difficult word.

What is clear is that it derives from the verb 好く _suku_ , which is still in
use (most often in the passive voice: 好かれる "to be liked").

However, like the 連用形 _ren'yōkei_ " _masu_ -stem" of so many other verbs, it
took on a life of its own, primarily as what is quite naturally analyzed as
形容動詞 _keiyōdōshi_ " _na_ -adjective".

Hence we have

>   1. 〇〇が好きです  
>  〇〇 _ga suki desu_  
>  cf. 〇〇がきれいです
>
>   2. 好き **な** 〇〇  
>  _suki **na**_ 〇〇  
>  cf. きれい **な** 〇〇
>
>

A literal translation might be "X is _likeable/nice_ ", which equates to "I
like X".

* * *

Note that 嫌い _kirai_ (from 嫌う _kirau_ , also often seen in the passive 嫌われる)
works almost exactly the same.

