Should we use すきの or すきな?


In 私の好きな歌何ですか？, why **好きな** is not **好きの**?




> why 好きな is not 好きの?

It is 好きな and not 好きの because 好き is a so-called **na-adjective** (in Japanese,
**形容動詞{けいようどうし}** ) , and the way to connect a na-adjective to a noun in the
present tense is by using the copula **な**. For more details on na-adjectives,
take a look [here](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/na-adjective/).

Here you are some examples of pairs na-adjective/noun:

> 好{す}き **な** 食{た}べ物{もの}。A likable food (or more naturally in English, "food
> [I] like").

> 綺麗{きれい} **な** 写真{しゃしん}。 A beautiful photograph.

> 素敵{すてき} **な** ドレス。 A lovely dress.

Finally, for the sake of completeness, note that:

  1. There's another group of adjectives in Japanese, the so-called **i-adjectives** , which do not use a particle and precede directly the noun they modify.
  2. Nouns can also modify other nouns by using the particle の. Some people call them no-adjectives but [this is controversial](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/46396/when-can-adjectives-be-used-with-the-particle-no/80413). To make it more confusing, some na-adjectives sometimes take the particle の (see [why is it that some 形容動詞 accepts の after it while some only accepts な after it?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/920/why-is-it-that-some-%E5%BD%A2%E5%AE%B9%E5%8B%95%E8%A9%9E-accepts-%E3%81%AE-after-it-while-some-only-accepts-%E3%81%AA-after-it)).




> why 好きな is not 好きの?

It is 好きな and not 好きの because 好き is a so-called **na-adjective** (in Japanese,
**形容動詞{けいようどうし}** ) , and the way to connect a na-adjective to a noun in the
present tense is by using the copula **な**. For more details on na-adjectives,
take a look [here](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/na-adjective/).

Here you are some examples of pairs na-adjective/noun:

> 好{す}き **な** 食{た}べ物{もの}。A likable food (or more naturally in English, "food
> [I] like").

> 綺麗{きれい} **な** 写真{しゃしん}。 A beautiful photograph.

> 素敵{すてき} **な** ドレス。 A lovely dress.

Finally, for the sake of completeness, note that:

  1. There's another group of adjectives in Japanese, the so-called **i-adjectives** , which do not use a particle and precede directly the noun they modify.
  2. Nouns can also modify other nouns by using the particle の. Some people call them no-adjectives but [this is controversial](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/46396/when-can-adjectives-be-used-with-the-particle-no/80413). To make it more confusing, some na-adjectives sometimes take the particle の (see [why is it that some 形容動詞 accepts の after it while some only accepts な after it?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/920/why-is-it-that-some-%E5%BD%A2%E5%AE%B9%E5%8B%95%E8%A9%9E-accepts-%E3%81%AE-after-it-while-some-only-accepts-%E3%81%AA-after-it)).

