Hi all
I am working through Genki I and was wondering whether the following three variations of using the suru no noun structure are all grammatically acceptable and if so what the differences in meaning/context are if any.
1. 料理するのが上手だ
2. 料理をするのが上手だ
3. 料理が上手だ.
Do these all really mean the same thing and acceptable in conversation?
Thank you!
2 comments
Think of it as adding する makes it a verb, for example 料理する “to cook”. But if you add を, you are making 料理 the object, so it would be “to do the cooking” 料理をする.
One good example is with wash 洗濯, to say do the washing is 洗濯をする and if you want to say wash the clothes: 服を洗濯する
料理するのが上手 it’s kind of the same as 料理が上手, the first one says that they’re good at a verb, and the second one is a noun.
For the specific example you provided these are all pretty much the same meaning. One could say that the difference between 1/2 and 3 is roughly ‘my mom is good at cooking’ and ‘my mom is a good cook.’
If we wanted to get really specific, to my Japanese brain 料理が上手 more has the nuance of making food that tastes good and 料理するのが上手 kind of encompasses like knowing how to make things in an efficient way so that no time or utensils/ingredients are wasted. Quick and safe preparation, etc. But unless the context was specifically about the process of cooking beyond the result just being tasty I wouldn’t really think deeply enough about a phrase like this for there to be a meaningful difference in the nuance.