Expresando Preferencias con Gustar, Encantar y Odiar

Expressing your preferences in English is one of the most practical skills you can build as a beginner. Understanding how to use like, love, and hate followed by the -ing form opens the door to talking about yourself, your habits, and even describing other people's preferences with confidence.

How do you express preferences with like, love, and hate?

When you want to share how you feel about an activity or situation, English offers three key verbs that cover the full range of emotions [0:24]:

• I like — you feel positively about something.
• I love — the positive feeling is very strong.
• I hate — you feel negatively about something.

These three verbs work as a simple scale from positive to negative. The important thing to remember is the structure: subject + like / love / hate + verb in -ing. This combination with the gerund (the -ing form of a verb) lets you describe specific actions or activities.

What does the structure look like in practice?

Here are clear examples that follow the pattern [1:07]:

• I like solving jigsaw puzzles. The verb solve becomes solving.
• I like reading books about psychology. The verb read becomes reading.

Notice that after like, you always attach -ing to the action verb. This is the present participle form, and it turns the verb into something that functions almost like a noun — the name of an activity.

For stronger positive feelings [1:40]:

• I love eating pasta.
• I love playing with my dog.

And for things you truly dislike [2:05]:

• I hate going to the dentist.
• I hate feeling cold.

How do you talk about someone else's preferences?

When describing a third person — he, she, or it — the verb changes slightly. You add an -s to the base verb [2:30]:

• He / she / it likes.
• He / she / it loves.
• He / she / it hates.

This is the third person singular rule in the simple present tense, and it applies consistently across all three preference verbs.

How would you describe Carlos' likes and dislikes?

A practical example brings the rule to life [2:50]. Meet Carlos:

• He loves cooking. You can picture him in the kitchen slicing tomatoes and onions.
• He hates eating sushi. That is something he definitely does not feel positively about.

Both sentences follow the same formula: he + loves/hates + verb-ing. The only difference from first person is that small but essential -s at the end of the verb.

How can you practice talking about your own preferences?

The best way to internalize this structure is to answer the question yourself: What are your likes and dislikes? Write short sentences using the three levels:

• Start with three things you like doing.
• Add two things you love doing.
• Include at least two things you hate doing.

Then challenge yourself by describing a friend or family member using the third person form with likes, loves, and hates. This simple exercise reinforces both the gerund structure and the third person agreement rule at the same time.

Try sharing your sentences in the comments — what do you love doing, and what do you absolutely hate?