Literal translation / grammar of「〜が上手です」?


There's something strange in the grammar when translating this sentence:

"You are skilled at tennis."

「テニス が 上手です」

In English, "you" is the subject. But in Japanese, テニス ("tennis") is the
subject.

Does that mean the literal translation is "Tennis is skilled"?




I think this could be seen as a case of a person’s ability with something
being described as a property of that thing. If that's indeed the case, it's
in a way related to what was discussed
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/91189/43676). As pointed out
there, something like that happens in English, too. _This stew eats well_
doesn’t mean the stew does the act of eating but the stew is such that people
can eat it in a certain way or with a certain feeling. Borrowing this sentence
structure, テニスが上手です might be translated as:

> Tennis plays well.

I know a translation with a noun or an adjective would look more literal, but
I couldn’t find an English word that means something one does well in the way
_favorite_ works for something one likes. Substituting it with a made-up
literal translation of 上手, it would become:

> Tennis is an “upper-hand”.




I think this could be seen as a case of a person’s ability with something
being described as a property of that thing. If that's indeed the case, it's
in a way related to what was discussed
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/91189/43676). As pointed out
there, something like that happens in English, too. _This stew eats well_
doesn’t mean the stew does the act of eating but the stew is such that people
can eat it in a certain way or with a certain feeling. Borrowing this sentence
structure, テニスが上手です might be translated as:

> Tennis plays well.

I know a translation with a noun or an adjective would look more literal, but
I couldn’t find an English word that means something one does well in the way
_favorite_ works for something one likes. Substituting it with a made-up
literal translation of 上手, it would become:

> Tennis is an “upper-hand”.

