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In lesson 3 it gives an example of how to say “I like -x-” as
(watashi wa) -x- ga suki desu
Now I know English and Japanese aren’t perfectly analogous (not even close), but in English -x- would be the direct object in the sentence, which would necessitate using “o”. My question is, since in this situation the English and Japanese concept of a ‘direct object’ don’t exactly line up, what other instances would you use “ga” instead of “o”, or vice-versa? And in what other ways, since I’m sure there are some, do our participles differ?
First, a minor correction: The direct object of verbs take the particle を, not お (both pronounced the same).
Second, and more to your point, 好き is not a verb in Japanese the way that “like” is a verb in English.
There is a verb that means “to like” in Japanese; it’s 好む（この・む）.
A direct translation of “I like x”, would be something like「私はｘを好む」.
This just isn’t a very common way to express the idea in Japanese.好き is an adjective which, in English, means something like “agreeable”.
A direct translation of「私はｘが好きだ」 would be something like “As for me, x is agreeable.”
This just isn’t a very common way to express the idea in English.So が isn’t really being used instead of を; it’s just that the common phrasing of the idea in Japanese (adjective based) is different from the common phrasing of the idea in English (verb based).
There’s about a double-handful of verbs and adjectives that usually appear in the structure AはBがC, in which が marks what would have been the object if the sentence were in English. The grammar dictionary describes this structure as “C usually expresses something about B, and BがC expresses something about A.” There’s a whole lot more description too which might be useful if that’s confusing (or could also be more confusing), but it then goes on to discuss the general types of words that usually take this form:
- Words which describe ability, for example わかる, できる and other potential verbs, 上手, 下手
- Words which indicate desire, for example ほしい, ～たい, いる
- Words which indicate fondness, for example 好き and きらい
- Words which describe emotion, for example はずかしい, なつかしい, こわい
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