Nominalization with のが、のを


I've just learned to nominalize verbs with のを but as I was looking for more
info on the web I saw that this is also done with のが and こと. The question
"[What is the difference between the nominalizers こと and
の?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1395/what-is-the-difference-
between-the-nominalizers-%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8-and-%E3%81%AE)" uses のを and のが as
if they were the same thing but does not explain if they can be used
interchangeably. Can they? What's the difference?

水{みず}を飲{の}む **のが** 好{す}きです。

水{みず}を飲{の}む **のを** 好{す}きです。




Flaw's answer is of course correct, but here's another way to look at it.

* * *

Start with a simple sentence like this:

> **犬{いぬ}** が好{す}きだ。 "I like dogs."

Since the predicate is a na-adjective, 好きだ, the object (犬) needs to be marked
by が. (Your second sentence is ungrammatical for this reason, btw.)

Then, if you want to say something like "I like running.", you need to change
the verb 走{はし}る into something like a noun, so it fits in the same spot as 犬.
You do this with 〜の. This is essentially the same thing as "run" → "running"
in English. So, we get:

> **走るの** が好きだ。 "I like running."

* * *

If you instead have a predicate which requires an を-marked object, like やめる
"to quit"/"to stop", it goes like this:

> **会社{かいしゃ}** をやめた。"I quit my job."  
>  **走るの** をやめた。 "I stopped running."

* * *

Basically, all the 〜の does is make a verb act like a noun, and then
syntactically-speaking, that noun-like thing can fit into any spot a noun
would normally go, and that spot will already be marked with が, の, or some
other case particle.




Flaw's answer is of course correct, but here's another way to look at it.

* * *

Start with a simple sentence like this:

> **犬{いぬ}** が好{す}きだ。 "I like dogs."

Since the predicate is a na-adjective, 好きだ, the object (犬) needs to be marked
by が. (Your second sentence is ungrammatical for this reason, btw.)

Then, if you want to say something like "I like running.", you need to change
the verb 走{はし}る into something like a noun, so it fits in the same spot as 犬.
You do this with 〜の. This is essentially the same thing as "run" → "running"
in English. So, we get:

> **走るの** が好きだ。 "I like running."

* * *

If you instead have a predicate which requires an を-marked object, like やめる
"to quit"/"to stop", it goes like this:

> **会社{かいしゃ}** をやめた。"I quit my job."  
>  **走るの** をやめた。 "I stopped running."

* * *

Basically, all the 〜の does is make a verb act like a noun, and then
syntactically-speaking, that noun-like thing can fit into any spot a noun
would normally go, and that spot will already be marked with が, の, or some
other case particle.

