Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 4: 10/13

嫌(きら)いDislike, Not fond of

Despite ending in い, きらい is a な-Adjective

Structure

Noun + が + 嫌(きら)い
嫌(きら)い + な + Noun

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Noun

  • Word Type

    Adjectival Noun

  • Register

    Standard

About きらい

嫌(きら)い, meaning 'to dislike', is one of the very common な-Adjectives in Japanese that is used in many different expressions. All な-Adjectives behave similarly to verbs, in that their form changes depending on what comes after them.

For 嫌(きら)い, it will be followed by either な, when acting as an adjective, だ, or the more polite です, when acting as a noun. This distinction is made depending on whether it is linked to another noun, or is independent.

In the example with だ, 嫌(きら)い is expressing that the thing is 'dislikable' (assertion). However, in the example with な, 嫌(きら)い is expressing 'being disliked' as a quality of the noun it is attached to.

In the same way that 好(す)き can often be partnered with 大(だい) to mean 'love', 嫌(きら)い can often be partnered with 大(だい) to mean 'hate'.

Caution

Despite ending in い, 嫌(きら)い is one of the few words that is actually a な-Adjective, and needs to be memorized.

Antonyms

Examples

--:--

    パイナップルが嫌(きら)い？

    Do you dislike pineapple?

    うん、大(だい)嫌(きら)いだ。

    Yeah, I hate it.

    嫌(きら)いな食(た)べ物(もの)がありますか。

    Is there a food that you dislike?

    はい、納豆(なっとう)が嫌(きら)いです。

    Yes, I dislike natto.

    嫌(きら)いな色(いろ)はありません。

    There is no color that I dislike.

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      きらい – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (20 in total)

      • rkharji

        rkharji

        Ah I get it. Thanks for clearing it up .

      • bruhks

        bruhks

        I am a little confused about kirai v.s. daikirai, in this example " エレンのお母さんが作る朝ごはんが大____。" the hint is looking for “hate”, but the correct answer is just kirai. Does this end up depending on context (e.g. you don’t really HATE breakfast?)

      • IcyIceBear

        IcyIceBear

        嫌い dislike (less strong than hate)
        大嫌い hate (big dislike)

        The sentence already has 大 so adding the 嫌い would make it “hate”

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