Like, love, hate + -ing form
After verbs of liking and disliking such as like, love, hate, enjoy and don't mind, English uses the -ing form to talk about an activity in general: I love cooking, She hates waiting, We enjoy travelling. The -ing word names the activity, so don't drop it and say things like "I like cook." Pay special attention to enjoy, which always takes the -ing form and never the infinitive, so "I enjoy cooking" is correct and "I enjoy to cook" is wrong.
Examples
- I love cooking. the speaker enjoys the activity of cooking
- She hates waiting. she dislikes waiting
- We enjoy travelling. the group enjoys travel
The full lesson
Everything in the video, in text.
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I enjoy to cook. It sounds logical — and it's wrong. One small ending makes you sound natural instead. Let's fix it.
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When you talk about an activity you like or dislike, the verb after it takes -ing. This is how English says what you're into.
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The pattern is simple. Take a feeling verb — like, love, enjoy, hate, don't mind. Then add the activity, and stick -ing on the end of it.
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Start with love. You add -ing to the activity, not the bare verb. I love cooking.
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It works the same for disliking. Hate the activity? Still add -ing. She hates waiting.
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Like covers everything in between — a gentle, everyday preference. I like reading before bed.
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Now the one to memorise. Enjoy always takes -ing — it never takes to. Burn this one in. We enjoy travelling.
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Here's the classic mistake. I enjoy to cook feels right, but it's wrong. Enjoy can never be followed by to — it must be cooking.
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The other slip is forgetting the ending entirely. I like cook has no activity — you need that -ing to turn the verb into the thing you like.
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One more useful one: don't mind. It means something is fine with you — and yes, it takes -ing too. I don't mind cleaning.
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So: a feeling verb plus the activity with -ing. Love it, like it, or hate it — the ending stays. And enjoy is -ing, always.