Does the 好き in 誰かが好き always have a romantic meaning?

Question

Would for example a sentence like ルームメートが好きだけど、彼はいつも観た後にテレビをつけっぱなしだね。work to say "I like my roommate (like in a non romantic way, as a friend, buddy, etc..) but he always leaves the TV on after he watched it." work? Or would the 好き automatically give the connotation that I'd like my roommate in a romantic way? If so, what would be a better option?

Also I hope my Japanese example sentence makes sense, feel free to correct anything.

Answer 1

好き does not necessary have a romantic meaning, but your sentence may leave some room for misunderstanding if there is not enough context. For safer options, see: Non-romantic way to say you "like" someone?

Your sentence is grammatically correct, but here's one way of improving your sentence:

ルームメートはいい人だけど、いつもテレビを観た後につけっぱなしにする(ね)。

• Used いい人だ ("is a nice guy") instead of 好きだ to address your concern.
• 彼は is unnecessary and should be omitted.
• 観る and つけっぱなし share the same object (テレビを), so it should be placed before the first verb.
• (彼は)いつもテレビをつけっぱなしだ is acceptable as sloppy Japanese, but いつもテレビをつけっぱなしにする is more canonical. It's perfectly fine to say テレビがつけっぱなしだ after noticing a TV left on, though.
• ね is for light confirmation ("...huh?", "...you know?"). Do you really need it?