Ways to say it
| Japanese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| …の方を好む | …no hō o konomu |
| …の方が好きである | … no hō ga suki de aru |
This phrase is used to indicate that you favor one option over another. To express a very strong liking for something in an informal context, you can use the word Ichiban, which means "number one".
What does it mean word for word?
The component 方 (hō) literally means "direction" or "side", and it is used here to point toward the specific option being favored.
Which one should you use?
…の方を好む is a more formal, literary or written way to express a preference compared to using the adjective suki.
How does it change in a sentence?
When expressing a preference between two things, the item you prefer is marked with the particle 方 (hō) and the subject marker が (ga). In spoken Japanese, the phrase is more commonly expressed using the adjective 好き (suki) with the polite copula です (desu) rather than the verb 好む (konomu).
How do you pronounce it?
…no hō o konomu
Did you know?
- The kanji for 好 in 好む is composed of the radicals for 'woman' and 'child', originally representing the feeling of a mother's love for her child.
- Japanese has a 'negative preference' structure where saying …は苦手です ('…wa nigate desu') literally means 'I am poor at this' but is commonly used as a polite way to say 'I prefer not to have this'.
- In Japanese culture, stating a preference too strongly can be seen as aggressive. People often add …かな ('I wonder' or 'perhaps') to the end of a preference to soften the statement and avoid sounding demanding.
Example sentences for Japanese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “prefer” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
