私は猫が好き and 猫は私が好き?

Question

^{I'm an absolute beginner. I've learned Japanese in my spare time for less than two months. This is my first question here. Even though I think this question is potentially trivial, it's perhaps the best to ask it here anyway. Be gentle with me, please. :)} I started reading basic grammar of Japanese, and found this sentence: > ねこがすきです。 I like cats. I thought が is the subject particle, so I supposed that ねこ would be the subject of the sentence. **[すき](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/je2/38836/m0u/%E3%81%99%E3%81%8D/)** seems to mean "like". So I expected ねこがすきです to mean *"Cats like me"* rather than *"I like cats"*; however, it seems like *"I like cats"* is the correct meaning, as another example バナナが好きだ (*I like bananas*) in the mentioned dictionary entry also has the same structure. I asked another learner and got this phrase (私は)猫が好き as the full version of ねこがすきです. However, this confuses me even further, because somehow I understand it as *"Cats, I like"* (and probably *"Me, cats like"*). And I think no matter how strange it means, it's still a perfectly fine sentence. How should I understand these two following sentences? Which one means "I like cats" and which one means "Cats like me"? > 1) 私は猫が好き 2) 猫は私が好き _{よろしくおねがいします！}

Answer 1

The implied subject here, "I," is being omitted. In Japanese, the subject can be removed when the meaning of the sentence is clear from context. To answer your ending question, Sentence 1) means "I like cats." and Sentence 2) means "Cats like me."

は and が are difficult particles to differentiate in the beginning of your Japanese studies. For simplicity's sake, think of は as the "subject marker" for now: the subject of the sentence is the noun preceded by は. The learner you asked is explaining this in an abbreviated way by putting 私は in parentheses before the sentence in question (猫が好き).

When using these sentences in real life, the subject might be assumed based on context. If you're taking about your likes and dislikes, 「＿＿＿が好き。」would mean "I like ___." Meanwhile, if you're talking about your sister, the assumed subject would result in "My sister likes ___." even if you just said 「＿＿＿が好き。」.

Let me know if you would like a more detailed answer. Happy to help!