> せんぱいが好きな食べ物は、なんですか？

I come across this sentence in a web novel, I think it is supposed to be
せんぱいの好きな食べ物は、なんですか？Why is せんぱい marked with が here? Is there a different use of
the word すき other than the comman usage: "先輩は食べ物が好きだ" that mark the person
other than the object being described as favourite? Is it an example of the
usage "in love (with)" in the EN-JP dictionary?
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question
grammar particle-が
Why is が used this way in this sentence with 好き?
With adjectives like 好き it is possible to say the following

> [sentence 1] りんごがすきです

> [sentence 2] わたしがすきです

**Sentence 1** should be relatively easy to understand

> _Someone_ likes apples.

**Sentence 2** isn't particularly clear when completely divorced from context.

It could mean,

> _Someone_ likes me

I would say that _without_ any further context, this is the default reading.

But it could also mean,

> _I_ like _something_.

There's a lot of discussion on this site about the difference between は and が
in this sort of context. I'll leave that discussion aside except to say that
as a stand alone sentence

> わたしがすきです

Either sounds like _I_ am liked by someone or _I_ am the sole individual
within _some group_ who likes something.

* * *

But, we don't have a stand-alone sentence here.

We have instead

> せんぱいが好きな食べ物は、なんですか

せんぱいが好きな is a relative clause modifying 食べ物. Since _foods_ typically don't
have a preference for who's going to eat them (unless your in some strange
alternate universe of anime, sci-fi, etc), the most natural way to construe
this is that 食べ物 is what is being _liked_.

That means that the relative clause

> せんぱいが好きな

functions much like **sentence 2** above in the sense where it is せんぱい is the
one who is liking something.

_But,_ there is one important caveat here. The は-が distinction I mentioned
above is null here. That's because は as the topic marker cannot be embedded in
a relative clause (when は is found in a subordinate clause, then は is not
marking the topic but usually functioning _contrastively_ ).

So this が in the relative clause marks the _subject_ who _likes_ some kind of
food. Unlike **sentence 2** above, in a relative clause, the reading is
neutral: that is, nothing is to be construed as _せんぱい_ being the only
individual who likes something.

* * *

You could indeed say

> せんぱいの好きな食べ物は、なんですか

But if you're thinking this の is a possessive marker indicating

> せんぱいの食べ物

then you are unfortunately mistaken. A native speaker is not naturally
inclined to hear it like this. That is because の can be used in relative
clauses (under special conditions which apply here) to stand in for the
subject marker が.

* * *

For details on subtopics I've brought up:

  * See this [question for が as an exhaustive listing marker](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/72751/4875)

  * See this [question for は vs が in relative clauses](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/54693/4875)

  * See this [question for when の can be substituted for the subject marker が in relative clauses](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/12829/4875)
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answer
So you say you know about relative clauses. Presumably then you would be happy
with a sentence like

> せんぱいが食べた食べ物は何ですか。  
>  What food did senpai eat?

In this sentence せんぱいが食べた modifies 食べ物 to describe the food. It's the food
that 'senpai ate'.

> せんぱいが食べ物を食べた --> せんぱいが食べた食べ物  
>  Senpai ate food --> the food senpai ate.

The object gets promoted to the head noun of the relative clause.

The same thing happens with your sentence: せんぱいが好きな食べ物. This is "the food that
senpai likes".

In this case we have

> せんぱいは食べ物が好きだ --> せんぱいが好きな食べ物  
>  Senpai likes food --> the food senpai likes

In this case it is the subject rather than the object that has been promoted
to the head noun, but that's allowed too.

There are a couple of minor oddities to watch out for with this one. せんぱい
**は** has become せんぱい **が** because は is not (usually) allowed in relative
clauses. And, だ becomes な because you changed the predicative form of the na-
adjective into the attributative (is that a real word?) form.

Finally, you say you would be happier if the sentence was せんぱい **の**
好きな食べ物は、なんですか. This would also be perfectly grammatical, but I suspect not for
the reason you think. の can replace が in relative clauses. See [this
link](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/12825/how-does-
the-%E3%81%AE-work-
in-%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E4%BA%BA%E3%81%AE%E7%9F%A5%E3%82%89%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E)
for example.

I guess you wanted to treat 好きな食べ物 as a noun and then modify it with せんぱいの to
get "senpai's liked food". I'm not sure if that is a valid way to look at the
grammar or not. Perhaps someone else can weigh in on that.
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answer