大好き (daisuki) means “really like” or “love.” It can describe affection for a person, food, or an activity. Like 好き, it commonly marks the thing liked with が: 猫が大好きです. It can sound warm without requiring a romantic meaning.
forms daisuki na / 大好物 / 大嫌い
really like · love · be crazy about
Sentences
〜が大好き · the core pattern
polite。
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チョコレート
チョコレート ［3］
chocolate
noun · katakana loan from English
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が
が
marks the subject
particle · what the sentence is about — with 好き, 分かる and potentials, the object
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大好き
だいすき ［1］
really like; love
な-adjective · 大 ＋ 好き, and it keeps 好き's が
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です
です
is — polite
copula · な-adjectives take です with no な
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I love chocolate.
大好きな ＋ 名詞 · all-time favourite
polite。
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これ
これ ［1］
this one
pronoun · the thing near the speaker
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は
は
as for — the topic
particle · written は, read わ
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私
わたし ［0］
I; me
pronoun · neutral in politeness, and usually dropped when obvious
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の
の
links noun to noun
particle · A の B = B belonging to A
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大好きな
だいすきな ［1］
beloved; all-time favourite
attributive form · な-adjectives take な in front of a noun
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漫画
まんが ［0］
manga; comic
noun · 漫 rambling ＋ 画 picture
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です
です
is — polite
copula · closes the sentence politely
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This is the manga I love most.
大好き · bare, to a person
plain、。
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お母さん
おかあさん ［2］
mum; mother
noun · the word for somebody's mother, including your own when speaking to her
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大好き
だいすき ［1］
I love you
な-adjective, bare · no subject, no copula — the everyday declaration
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Mum, I love you.
大好きだった · the past
plain past、。
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あの
あの
that ＋ noun — over there, or in the past
determiner · あの reaches for something both speakers already know
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曲
きょく ［0］
song; track
noun · a piece of music; 歌 is specifically a sung one
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昔
むかし ［0］
long ago; back then
noun used adverbially · needs no particle
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大好き
だいすき ［1］
loved
な-adjective · the tense sits on the copula after it, not on 大好き
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だった
だった
was
plain past of だ · な-adjectives inflect through the copula
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I loved that song back in the day.
大嫌い · the mirror image
plain。
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納豆
なっとう ［3］
natto — fermented soybeans
noun · the standard test case for a food people split on
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が
が
marks the subject
particle · what the sentence is about — with 好き, 分かる and potentials, the object
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大嫌い
だいきらい ［1］
really dislike; hate
な-adjective · 大 ＋ 嫌い, and it takes が exactly like 大好き
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だ
だ
is — plain
copula · plain form; dropping it entirely is also normal in speech
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I really hate natto.
大好きになる · the change
plain past。
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日本
にほん ［2］
Japan
noun · also read にっぽん in formal and sporting contexts
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が
が
marks the subject
particle · what the sentence is about — with 好き, 分かる and potentials, the object
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大好き
だいすき ［1］
loved
な-adjective · になる turns the standing state into an event
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に
に
to; at; into
particle · a point something reaches — a place, a time, a person, or a state
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なった
なった
became
plain past of なる · the change-of-state verb
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I came to love Japan.
Forms
Noun ＋ が＋大好き
Identical to 好き, particle and all: the thing loved is the subject and takes が. 大好きです, past 大好きでした, negative 大好きじゃない.
大好きな＋Noun
In front of a noun it takes な: 大好きな人, 大好きな曲. This is the natural Japanese for an all-time favourite.
大好き
On its own, with nothing marked at all — the everyday declaration, to a person or about a thing. Adding よ warms it; adding です formalises it without cooling it.
Noun ＋ が＋大嫌い
The opposite, built the same way. Learning the pair together is cheaper than learning them apart, because every rule transfers.
Meaning
大好き is 好き with 大 in front, and it inherits everything: the が, the な before a noun, the じゃない negative. What changes is only degree — and, in practice, warmth. It reads as more spontaneous than 好き, not merely stronger.
This is the word that does English love's everyday work. A child says it to a parent, a fan says it about a band, and someone says it about a food without anyone hearing a declaration. 愛してる cannot do any of that: it is heavy, it is rare, and pointed at a bowl of ramen it is a joke.
It is not a formality step. 大好きです is not the polite version of 大好き in the way 食べます is of 食べる — the です adds sincerity and a little distance at once. A bare 大好き between close people is warmer, not ruder.
大嫌い is the same machine in reverse. Really dislike, hate, and it takes が for the identical reason. Japanese draws its line between liking and disliking rather than between mild and strong, so these two sit closer together than the English translations suggest.
Inside the word
A person standing with arms outstretched — the oldest and plainest of the pictographs. As a prefix it multiplies whatever it is attached to: 大好き love, 大嫌い hate, 大丈夫, 大成功. Here it is read だい, not おお.
English stacks like and love as separate words and then has to explain that loving a sandwich is a joke. Japanese keeps one adjective and puts a prefix on it, so the sandwich and the parent get the same construction and nobody has to disambiguate. The heavy word, 愛する, is kept out of everyday reach entirely.
The accent moves. 好き alone is ［2］, with the height on き; adding 大 pulls it to the front — high on だ, and low all the way down. 大嫌い ［1］ does exactly the same thing.
Watch out
If what you mean is English I love you in any ordinary sense — to a partner, a parent, a friend — 大好き is the word that carries it. 愛してる is not a stronger version of the same thing; it belongs to a register most speakers use once or twice in a lifetime.
大好き is an adjective and inherits 好き's grammar without exception. 君を大好き is wrong the same way 君を好き is; the particle is が.
It is polite, but it is not neutral — です on a declaration of feeling reads as sincerity with a little distance in it. Between people who are close, the bare 大好き is the warmer sentence, not the cruder one.
Also asked
Really like, or love. It is 好き with 大 — big — in front, and it covers everything from a favourite food to a person you love. In practice it does most of the work English gives to the word love.
大好き, nearly always. 愛してる is rare, heavy and slightly theatrical in ordinary conversation — it is not the natural escalation of 大好き that English speakers expect it to be.
が. It is an adjective, exactly like 好き, so the thing loved is its subject: チョコレートが大好きです. を would need a verb, and there isn't one.
Yes — about them or to them, and it will be read as warmth rather than as a confession, which is the main practical difference from a bare 好きです. Context still matters, but 大好き is the safer of the two to say out loud to someone you are not confessing to.
大嫌い — really dislike, hate. It is built the same way and takes the same が, so learning the pair together costs almost nothing: 納豆が大嫌いだ.
だいすき, accent ［1］ — high on the first mora and low from there. Note that it moves: 好き on its own is ［2］. 大嫌い ［1］ behaves identically.
References
Digital Daijisen, 大好き — Defines very strong liking and illustrates the が construction.
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