12798
During the past month I've been addicted to Japanese. I've listened to about
10 online tutorial video courses and read about as much printed lessons. I am
determined to learn Japanese, but I am really a newbie so my question may be
very basic, but please bear with me.

If I understand correctly, both _-ga_ and _-o_ particles designate a direct
object. For example, I've heard:

> Watashi wa ongaku-ga suki desu. = I like music
>
> Watashi wa ongaku-o kiku (or kikimasu, I'm not sure) = I am listening to
> music

So why is it _ga_ in one case and _o_ in the other? Is it specific to the verb
or the object or what?

P.S. I don't know hiragana yet, so I'd appreciate if you could keep your
examples, if any, in romaji.
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particles particle-は particle-を particle-が
What's the difference between -ga and -o when they are used to designate a direct object?
It depends not only on the verb, but on the form of the verb.

The general rule is that static verbs and adjectives take "ga" and "action
verbs" take "o" on the direct object.

> piano-o hiku  
>  play the piano
>
> piano-ga hikeru  
>  can play the piano

Here, playing the piano is an action, thus "o" is used. Being able to play the
piano is a state, thus "ga" is used.

> ringo-ga hoshii  
>  want an apple
>
> ringo-o hoshigaru  
>  act like you want an apple

Again, to want an apple is a state, so use "ga", to act like you want it is an
action, so use "o".
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This is not as much of a newbie question as you might think. [dainichi gave a
good general rule-of-thumb](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/12798/3794),
but at the risk of confusing you, I'd like to point out that there are many
cases when `を` and `が` are actually interchangeable. For example, the sentence
"I can play the piano" can be written either

> ピアノが弾【ひ】ける  
>  piano ga hikeru

or

> ピアノを弾【ひ】ける  
>  piano wo hikeru

A psychology professor from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto conducted a study
on the interchangeability of `を` and `が` in 2006. Although [the paper he
wrote](http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/acd/cg/lt/rb/599/599pdf/higasiya.pdf) is
mostly in Japanese, there is a good summary in English at the beginning. He
found that when presented with the sentence

> ピアノ __ 弾【ひ】ける  
>  piano __ hikeru

college students were split almost 50/50 on filling in the blank with `を` vs.
`が`, while older people more strongly favored `が`.

The main point the author makes is that in sentences where the predicate is an
action, e.g.

> ほしがる  
>  hoshigaru  
>  to want (or as dainichi more aptly put it, to act like you want)

the use of `を` is overwhelmingly favored over `が`; while in sentences where
the predicate describes a state, `を` and `が` are either interchangeable, like
with

> 弾【ひ】ける  
>  hikeru  
>  to be able to play (an instrument)

or `が` is strongly favored, like with

> 好【す】き  
>  suki  
>  to like

The author also points out that context is important. Even though `を` and `が`
are more or less interchangeable in the sentence

> ピアノ __ 弾【ひ】ける

`を` was heavily favored in the sentence

> 練習【れんしゅう】して，彼【かれ】はピアノ __ 弾【ひ】けるようにした  
>  renshuu shite, kare ha piano __ hikeru you ni shita  
>  He practiced and tried to become able to play the piano. (awkward
> translation but you get the gist)

However, even with this sentence, roughly one-third of the older respondents
chose `が`, so you're unlikely to go wrong if you always select `が` when the
predicate describes a state rather than an action.

This is just a slightly more nuanced version of the rule that dainichi gave. I
simply wanted to point out that most rules have exceptions, and in the case of
`を` versus `が`, even native speakers do not always reach a consensus.
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answer
hiku is a dictionary form of verb which means play [for instruments, e.g.
piano, guitar etc.] verb ending in ku can be changed to potential form by
changing u to e and add eru so that hiku becomes hikeru [can play]. Watashi wa
piano ga hikeru.[I can play the piano.] I think the appropriate particle here
is ga.Watashi wa piano ga hikeru koto ga dekimasu.[in other potential form]
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Isn't there also a difference depending on whether the verb is transitive or
intransitive?

eg.

電気 **を** 消す。

Turn off the lights.

電気 **が** 消える。

Lights turn off.

Intransitive verbs tend to follow ga while wo preceeds transitive.
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Althouh a (rare?) verb 好く (suku) exists, "suki" is an **adjective** (borrowed
from Austronesian, therefore uses -na instead of -i: "suki- _na_ hito" instead
of "suki- _i_ hito"), and "suki" can also be a noun ("fondness"). By they way,
suki derives from suku according to Wiktionary.

Watashi-wa | ongaku-ga | suki | desu.  
---|---|---|---  
I-TopicMarker | music-SUBJ | pleasing | be  
  
is literally

"As for me (wa=set the context), music ( **SUBJECT** ) is
liked/likable/lovable/pleasing (adjective)". The only verb here is _desu_.

When we translate, we need to find the most similar word. But if a word is an
adjective in English, then it doesn't mean that the most similar word in an
other language is also an adjective.

For example, word "like" is used differently in other languages:

  * in English the **transitive verb** is used ([subject=liker] likes [object of liking]). Also could be a **noun** : "You are my love"... well, love≠like, but the meanings are similar.
  * in Russian it's a **reflexive verb** and in Spanish it's an **intrasitive verb** , for both the (kinda) order is reversed:

la música | me | gusta  
---|---|---  
SUBJ | INDIR.OBJ | VERB.INTR  
  
music | pleases | me  
---|---|---  
SUBJ | VERB.TR | DIR.OBJ  
  
music | is | pleasing | to me  
---|---|---|---  
SUBJ | VERB | ADJ | INDIR.OBJ  
  
  * rarely in colloquial Russian an **adverb** is used (although I never use this "по нраву"):

muzyka | mne | po nravu  
---|---|---  
SUBJ | INDIR.OBJ | ADV  
  
  * in Japanese it's an **adjective** , therefore use が (of course sometimes you need は instead).

Same with hoshi-i (it is actually "desirable" instead of "to want"; from
obsolete verb "hor-u") and kira-i ("disliked"/"hated"; from kira-u).

Although if you add suffix -garu to an adjective, you would get a verb (as
it's done in two accepted answers), so since it's a verb now you should use を.
I said "should" insead of "must" because according to the answer that mentions
the paper, a minority prefers が with -garu (maybe they still feel it's an
adjective?).

TL;DR: Use only _Japanese_ (not English) grammar to find out whether it's a
verb or an adjective, and to find the direct object in a Japanese sentence.
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