彼が嫌いです
kare ga kirai desu
In Japanese, "I hate him" is expressed as 彼が嫌いです (kare ga kirai desu).
This phrase is used to express a strong dislike or aversion toward a male person. To intensify this feeling, you can use 大嫌い to mean "to strongly dislike" or "to hate" or add the word 本当に to mean "really".
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
The form 彼が嫌いです is polite. Because it uses a polite ending to express a strong negative emotion, it can create a chilling or formal tone. For a more informal and blunt way to say this, use 彼が嫌いだ. For a formal version, you can use 彼が大嫌いです.
How does it change in a sentence?
The word 嫌い (kirai) is a na-adjective meaning "disliked" rather than a verb meaning "to hate". In this sentence, the particle が (ga) marks the person who is the object of the dislike, even though English uses "him" as a direct object.
How do you pronounce it?
kare ga kirai desu
What mistakes should you avoid?
Avoid saying 彼を嫌いです. English speakers often mistakenly use the particle を (o) because they treat "hate" as a transitive verb, but in Japanese, you must use が.
Did you know?
- The word 彼 ('kare') originally meant 'that person' and was not exclusively masculine. It only became a gender-specific pronoun for 'he' during the Meiji era due to the influence of Western languages like English.
- While 嫌い ('disliked') sounds strong to learners, it is frequently used in casual contexts to describe food or colors. To express a truly deep, visceral hatred toward a person, the word 憎い ('nikui') is used instead.
- In Japanese culture, expressing 'hate' directly can be seen as quite aggressive. People often use more indirect language to avoid the social friction that a word like 嫌い creates.
Examples in context
- 率直に言えば、私は彼が嫌いです。Frankly speaking, I hate him.Tatoeba #78304 by mookeee, translation #325413 by CK
- 彼は嫌いだよI hate him
- 妹が大嫌いだI hate my sister
- 彼が本当に大嫌いですI really hate him
- 正直に言うと、彼が嫌いです。shoujiki ni iu to, kare ga kirai desu.To be honest, I hate him.
- 理由はないけれど、彼が嫌いです。riyuu wa nai keredo, kare ga kirai desu.There is no reason, but I hate him.
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about a coworker.
- 大翔 Hiroto大翔さんは、彼のことどう思う？Daigo-san wa, kare no koto dō omou?Daigo, what do you think of him?
- 陽葵 Himari実は、私は彼が嫌いです。Jitsu wa, watashi wa kare ga kirai desu.Actually, I hate him.
- 大翔 Hirotoえっ、どうして？E, dōshite?What? Why?
- 陽葵 Himariすごく失礼な人だからです。Sugoku shitsurei na hito dakara desu.Because he is a very rude person.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
