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みたい as in like (someone)

If I want to say "I like people like that woman", is it enough to simply say: 女性みたいな人が好きです。 Or do I have to specify the "that" part by putting it like this: あの女性みたいな人が好きです。

Also, is it allowed to use を instead of が here if it ended with a verb? (好き is an adjective if I remember right)

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I would say 「あの女の人みたいな人が好きです」 is probably better if you're want to talk about that woman. Otherwise it may not be clear who/what exactly you're talking about. with may depend on the context though. Also, notice that I replaced 女性 with 女の人. みたい is more casual expression (than のよう) and more everyday expression 女の人 seems more suitable and in line with the level of speech.

You cannot use を in this sentence. 女の人 is the subject of the sentence, not an object. 好き is an adjective, not a transitive verb.

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  • Very insightful! Just what I wanted.
    – chlenix
    Apr 13, 2014 at 0:42
  • I don't think it's a very good idea to regard that が as a subject marker and 好き as "likable". I sometimes see learners indicate the agent of 好き with particle に, resulting a sentence like 私にそれが好き, which doesn't make sense at all. I believe it stems from the idea of "it is likable for me". A word that's equivalent to 'likable' is 好ましい, not 好き.
    – user4092
    Apr 13, 2014 at 2:41
  • @user4092 Right, I had doubts too if it explained it well. I removed this bit to not cause confusion.
    – Szymon
    Apr 13, 2014 at 2:49
  • There are multiple diagnostics for subjecthood in Japanese. See The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Linguistics, pp.142-145 for three tests which show that the "nominative object" in 〜が好きだ is not a subject, along with some arguments that it is in fact an object.
    – user1478
    Apr 13, 2014 at 19:05

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