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.
-
それは嫌(きら)いだ。
I don't like that. (That is dislikable)
-
私(わたし)はスポーツが嫌(きら)いです。
I don't like sports. (They are dislikable, to me)
-
彼(かれ)の嫌(きら)いな食(た)べ物(もの)はピザです。
The food he doesn't like is pizza. (The food that is disliked, by him)
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’.
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.