Why ga and not o in "Mari wa neru koto ga suki desu"?


When I saw this sentence alone _Mari wa neru koto ga suki desu_ I first
thought neru koto is the direct object of the answer and should have an "o"
particle, and not a "ga". Later I thought I might dont understand very well
and may be actions can't be direct object or something, but after seeing the
structure of the question that originates that answer more confusion arises:

Nani o suru koto ga suki desu ka?

Here Nani is marked as "o" (direct object) and in the answer that "what"
becomes "suru koto" (which is marked as "ga" so supposedly it isnt a direct
object) . isnt this contradictory? is it simply this way a valid syntactic
rule or am I missunderstanding something more?




(All that grammar they've taught you is a necessary oversimplification.)

If you want 「好」 to have the equivalent of a direct object such as we have in
English, use [好む]{このむ}. But don't do that until you've heard several natives
say it and recognized how they are using it.

「好く」 means something like "to be liked", in the proper grammar. So you can't
really have a direct object, only an object complement. (Which is also a
necessary oversimplification.)

That having been said, modern Japanese usage, especially among the young, will
see a bit of self-assertion, trading the stuffy 「ピザを好みます。」 for the "incorrect"
「ピザを好きです。」

（Since Chocalate asks, I'll add this, which I have heard from a 国語先生、 「好かれる」
should generally be understood as a polite construction. This is one of the
reasons I have generally objected to "A is liked by B." examples for passive
form in 英語 classes, and when I point this out after classes, the 英語先生 has
almost always agreed and given me time to help them prepare more natural
examples.)




(All that grammar they've taught you is a necessary oversimplification.)

If you want 「好」 to have the equivalent of a direct object such as we have in
English, use [好む]{このむ}. But don't do that until you've heard several natives
say it and recognized how they are using it.

「好く」 means something like "to be liked", in the proper grammar. So you can't
really have a direct object, only an object complement. (Which is also a
necessary oversimplification.)

That having been said, modern Japanese usage, especially among the young, will
see a bit of self-assertion, trading the stuffy 「ピザを好みます。」 for the "incorrect"
「ピザを好きです。」

（Since Chocalate asks, I'll add this, which I have heard from a 国語先生、 「好かれる」
should generally be understood as a polite construction. This is one of the
reasons I have generally objected to "A is liked by B." examples for passive
form in 英語 classes, and when I point this out after classes, the 英語先生 has
almost always agreed and given me time to help them prepare more natural
examples.)

