How else can you use 「だい」as in 大好き or 大嫌い?


I understand that you can use だい in the sense of "very", to emphasise すき and
きらい. So だいすき is "very loved" and だいきらい is "very hated". Can だい be used for the
same meaning in any other words? Can you use it to modify all adjectives?

Please reply using kana (kanji with furigana is fine.)




[大]{だい}[好]{す}き and [大]{だい}[嫌]{きら}い are somewhat special in that sense. Both
大{だい} and 大{おお} can be used with other words, but usually 大{おお} goes with
訓{くん}読{よ}み words and 大{だい} with 音{おん}読{よ}み words:

> [大]{だい}[問]{もん}[題]{だい}  
>  serious problem
>
> 大{おお}急{いそ}ぎ  
>  pressing, urgent

One exception would be 大{おお}掃{そう}除{じ}.

Prefixing おお or だい, however, only works for specific words and I don't think
there's any rule to determine which words take おお or だい for emphasis. For
example, きれい is a na-adjective, but 大きれい (with either reading) doesn't work.

With i-adjectives and na-adjectives you can use other constructions for
emphasis. Using すごく adverbially works in almost all situations and with all
i-adjectives and all na-adjectives (e.g. すごく[楽]{たの}しい, すごくきれい). There are also
many informal/conversational ways (using 超{ちょう}, めっちゃ, すごい, etc.) of saying
the same thing. (See [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/14278/1628).)




[大]{だい}[好]{す}き and [大]{だい}[嫌]{きら}い are somewhat special in that sense. Both
大{だい} and 大{おお} can be used with other words, but usually 大{おお} goes with
訓{くん}読{よ}み words and 大{だい} with 音{おん}読{よ}み words:

> [大]{だい}[問]{もん}[題]{だい}  
>  serious problem
>
> 大{おお}急{いそ}ぎ  
>  pressing, urgent

One exception would be 大{おお}掃{そう}除{じ}.

Prefixing おお or だい, however, only works for specific words and I don't think
there's any rule to determine which words take おお or だい for emphasis. For
example, きれい is a na-adjective, but 大きれい (with either reading) doesn't work.

With i-adjectives and na-adjectives you can use other constructions for
emphasis. Using すごく adverbially works in almost all situations and with all
i-adjectives and all na-adjectives (e.g. すごく[楽]{たの}しい, すごくきれい). There are also
many informal/conversational ways (using 超{ちょう}, めっちゃ, すごい, etc.) of saying
the same thing. (See [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/14278/1628).)

