5

As it was discussed here, the particle を may sometimes be placed in front of 好き as long as the main verb of the sentense does not take anything else to be its を.

だれがおまえを好きだと言った。

My question is whether I can view this as

だれがおまえを「好きだ」と 言った

with the おまえを part outside the quotation, and corresponding to "did anyone say to you / tell you << .... >>". Does the verb 言う ever attach an を to itself, or if it does, is it different to this?

I hope I am clear with my question ^^'

2 Answers 2

4

The answer to your question is that you can't because を does not work like that, を is the mark of the accusative (direct object) case and can't mark the dative (indirect object).

So basically, what you want to say is:

誰がおまえ「好きだ」と言った

言う can be used with を and と at the same time:

AをBという -- Call A (as) B

or as mentioned by Yoichi Oishi in the comments, you can use を alone with 言う.

冗談を言う: Tell a joke
名前を言う: Tell one's name
バカなことを言う: Say stupid things
...

6
  • I don't think 誰がお前に好きだと言ったか and 誰がお前を好きだと言ったか are the same. The latter doesn't necessarily mean someone directly spoke to お前 but the former unambiguously does.
    – nodakai
    Mar 20, 2016 at 20:32
  • I may not have been clear but I don't mean that they are the same. I just want to say that in the case of 誰がお前を好きだと言ったか you can't understand it like 誰がお前を「好きだ」と言ったか (who did say "I love you" ?) the お前を should be part of the quotation. But on the other side, if you replace を by に, then the interpretation 誰がお前に「好きだ」と言ったか (who said to you "I love you"?) is correct. That's what I meant. Mar 21, 2016 at 0:37
  • 1
    I don't get O.P.'s question clear. But, 'Does the verb 言う ever attach an を to itself?” Yes, it does, like 冗談を言う。バカなことを言う。小言を言う。名前を言う。 Mar 22, 2016 at 1:18
  • @YoichiOishi I agree with you but it was not clear whether OP asked about ~を言う or ~と~を言う. and I only covered the case ~と~を言う Mar 22, 2016 at 7:34
  • In case it was in the quotations as in 「おまえを好きだ」と言った, would it work, or still not work to use an を. My initial question was how to interpret the sentense I posted on the very top, and as I misinterpreted, can I now say that the おまえを is also part of the quotation?
    – d3o
    Mar 24, 2016 at 11:39
0

I think おまえを好きだ is unnatural because 好きだ is na-adjevtive. が(は) is basically placed in front of adjective like おまえが好きだ.

I think 誰がおまえに「好きだ」と言った is more natural as 変幻出没さん say.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .