I don't like to admit it, but sometimes I'm a bit of a hypocrite.

When I was teaching English in Tokyo a couple of years ago, I always asked students the same question. A question I myself couldn't answer:

Why do you study English?

Or in my case, Why do you study Japanese?

Most students would say "for work," "for travel," or "for fun." And usually I would say:

分かんない。
わかんない。
I don't know.
Literally: "don't understand."
Note: 分かんない is short for 分からない is short for 分かりません. The shorter it is, the more casual it is.

But I did know why. I study Japanese because it makes me happy. I enjoy it. I don't know why it makes me happy. It just does. There's just one problem with this, though:

I don't know how to say, "It makes me happy."

So we have this question:

A:
なんで日本語勉強してるの？
なんで　にほんご　べんきょう　してる　の？
Why are you studying Japanese?
Literally: "why + Japanese + are studying + の？"

I suppose I could just say:

B #1:
好きだから。
すき　だ　から。
Because I like it.
Literally: "liking + is + because."

That's probably the closest answer they have for, "Because it makes me happy." Be sure to smile when you say 好きだから, though, because you might come off as a little cold if you don't say that nicely.

By the way, if you put 勉強が（べんきょう　が） before that sentence, the nuance changes a bit:

B #2:
勉強が好きだから。
べんきょう　が　すき　だ　から。
I like studying.
Literally: "studying + が + liking + is + because."

The nuance here is not so much that you like studying Japanese. Rather, you like studying in general.

Maybe you're thinking, Come on, man. Surely there is some way to say "It makes me happy."

Well, yeah, kind of...

B #3:
日本語勉強してるとなんか幸せ。
にほんご　べんきょう　してる　と　なんか　しあわせ。
When I'm studying Japanese I just feel... happy.
Literally: "Japanese + am studying + と + なんか + happy."
Note: This sounds like you really like Japanese. Also, we've seen なんか in some lessons before... so hopefully you remember that it's sort of a space filler for when you're thinking. It's a bit like saying, "just," "like," etc. It's very hard to translate.

Working with Rei, it took me forever to come up with that sentence because every time I presented an option for, "Studying Japanese just makes me happy," she would tell me, "We don't say that in Japanese."

Even the sentence above sounds a little over the top. Someone was just casually asking you about why you're studying, and now you're getting pretty intense with your answer.

So, OK, let's just stick with 好きだから. But that leaves us with another problem: It won't always work as a substitute for, "Because it makes me happy."

Consider this:

A:
なんでゲーム好きなの？
なんで　ゲーム　すき　なの？
Why do you like (video) games?

B (Incorrect):
✕　好きだから。
✕　すき　だ　から。
✕　Because I do.

That answer won't work, because it sounds so rude. Instead, you'd probably want to say something like:

B:
楽しいから。
たのしい　から。
Because they're fun.
Literally: "fun + because."

So I've pretty much given up on trying to say "It makes me happy." Guess I'm doomed to misery. But what if I want to make someone else happy? What's the language for that?!

For example, take this sentence: I want to make her happy.

Any ideas how we'd say that?

I'll give you five lines to think about it....

5
4
3
2
1

彼女を幸せにしてあげたい。
かのじょ　を　しあわせ　に　して　あげたい。
I want to make her happy.
Literally: "she + を + happy + に + make/do + want to give."

We looked at ～てあげる in Lesson #94, and we looked at ～てあげたい inLesson #13.

And you may also know that putting particles before する, "to do; to make" can do all kinds of magical things. In this case, it's the meaning of "to make into." Here's another example of this usage:

靴を綺麗にする！
くつ　を　きれい　に　する！
I'm going to make these shoes clean. (i.e. I'm going to clean these shoes.)
Literally: "shoes + を + pretty/clean + に + do/make."

But what if you want to tell a girl you want to make her happy to her face?!?! 😲

Then you could change it (ever so slightly) to:

幸せにしてあげたい。
しあわせ　に　して　あげたい。
I want to make you happy.
Literally: "happy + に + do/make + want to give."

Yeah, you just delete 彼女を. You might be tempted to throw in one of the million ways to say "you," but it's obvious who you're talking about, so it's redundant/unnatural to say it.

Student: Uh, quick question.
Teacher: Yes?
Student: What's the difference between 幸せ（しあわせ）and 嬉しい（うれしい）?
Teacher: *runs away*

幸せ and 嬉しい both mean "happy," but 嬉しい is more of a surface-level happiness. If your boss calls and gives you a sudden 2-week paid vacation for no reason, then you'll probably be 嬉しい. To become 幸せ, though, you might need to meet the love of your life while taking that vacation.