Like, love, hate + форма -ing

When you use it

You use like, love, hate, enjoy and don't mind to say how you feel about an activity in general: cooking, running, getting up early. The activity is expressed with the -ing form of the verb. This form works like a noun, so I like swimming has the same shape as I like tea. In Ukrainian and Russian the same idea uses an infinitive: люблю плавати, люблю плавать. That is the main thing to unlearn. After these verbs English wants swimming, not swim and not to swimming.

The -ing form here is called a gerund. It names the activity as a whole, not one occasion of it, which is why it fits the general meaning of like and hate. When you talk about one particular occasion, usually in the future, English switches to would like or want with to, so the two patterns do not compete for the same job.

How it is formed

The feeling verb changes with the subject like any present simple verb. The activity verb always takes -ing and never changes.

Subject	Affirmative	Negative	Question
I / you / we / they	like swimming	don't like swimming	Do you like swimming?
he / she / it	likes swimming	doesn't like swimming	Does she like swimming?

The -ing form has a few spelling rules.

Base verb	-ing form	Rule
read, cook, walk	reading, cooking, walking	add -ing
make, drive, write	making, driving, writing	drop the silent -e
swim, run, shop	swimming, running, shopping	double the last consonant after one short stressed vowel
lie, die	lying, dying	-ie becomes -y

The verbs sit on a scale from strong liking to strong dislike: love – like – don't mind – don't like – hate. Enjoy sits close to like but is used only with -ing or a noun, never with an infinitive. Don't mind means the activity is neither good nor bad for you.

Like can also be followed by to + verb, especially in American English and when you talk about a habit you think is sensible: I like to check my email in the morning. The -ing form is always safe, so use it first. Would like is different: it means want and always takes to: I would like to go home.

Examples

• I love cooking at the weekend.
• Tom likes running in the park before work.
• Anna hates getting up early.
• We don't like waiting in queues.
• Do you like reading in bed?
• She doesn't mind working on Saturdays.
• My parents enjoy walking by the river.
• I hate being late.

Common mistakes

• ✗ I like swim.
  ✓ I like swimming.
  Люблю плавати and люблю плавать take an infinitive, and the English base form looks like an infinitive. After like, love, hate and enjoy the activity is a noun-like -ing form.
• ✗ I very like this film.
  ✓ I like this film very much. / I really like this film.
  Дуже люблю and очень люблю put the adverb before the verb. English very cannot stand in front of a verb; use very much at the end or really before the verb.
• ✗ I like to swimming.
  ✓ I like swimming. / I like to swim.
  Both endings exist, but not together. To goes with the base form, -ing goes without to.
• ✗ I am like reading.
  ✓ I like reading.
  Like is an ordinary verb, so it needs no am, is or are. I am like means I am similar to, which is a different word.
• ✗ I would like going home now.
  ✓ I would like to go home now.
  Would like means want and always takes to + verb. Only plain like takes the -ing form.

Try it