To love – to like – to enjoy - to be in love

December Grammar Corner: “To love – to like – to enjoy - to be in love”
Think French Grammar Corner is brought to you by Camille Chevalier-Karfis. Camille has
been teaching adults in private and group classes for over 15 years. After years of observing her students struggle with existing teaching methods, Camille developed her own
French method geared towards adult speakers. To complement this unique teaching approach, Camille has written two audio books and has created more than 60 hours of French
audio training material. All of Camille’s audio books, podcasts, audio lessons can be found
on her site www.FrenchToday.com. Camille is also available for private lessons worldwide via phone or Skype.
To love – to like – to enjoy - to be in love
A fairly simple concept, which when used wrong could lead to very embarrassing situation.
The word aimer is used a lot, to describe relationships of course, but also everyday likes
and dislikes. Learn the huge difference there is between “j’aime Pierre” and “j’aime beacoup Pierre”, and whether it’s OK to say “j’aime le chocolat”, as well as adding nuances to
describe things or people you like, enjoy, or love
The English language uses the verb to love for many things ; you can say “I love you” to
someone, or that you love chocolate, or “oh, yes, I loooooove Denise, my best friend”. In
French, we also use the verb aimer for all these meanings, with a big twist though. Learn
how not to make a very embarrassing mistake.
To like, to love:
To talk about friendship, or likes and dislikes,
use the verb détester or aimer with an adverb,
or the verb adorer. Remember, these adverbs
will go directly after the verb or the pas.
Je déteste Paul
I hate Paul
Je déteste le chocolat
Je n’aime pas Paul
I hate chocolate
I don’t like/love Paul/I am not in love with Paul
Je n’aime pas le chocolat I don’t like chocolate
Je n’aime pas beaucoup Paul
I don’t like Paul very much
Je n’aime pas beaucoup le chocolat
20
Think French - Issue 12
I don’t like chocolate very much
J’aime assez Paul
I kind of like Paul
J’aime assez nager
I kind of enjoy swimming
J’aime bien Paul
I like Paul
J’aime bien nager
I enjoy swimming
J’aime beaucoup Paul
I like Paul very much
J’aime beaucoup nager
I like swimming a lot
J’adore Paul
I’m very fond of Paul – I think he’s great
J’adore nager
I love to swim
To be in love:
To say you are in love with someone, use the construction Aimer + person’s name,
without any adverb.
Compare:
J’aime Paul
I am in love with Paul (love)
J’aime bien Paul
I like Paul (friendship)
J’aime beaucoup Paul
J’adore Paul
I like Paul a lot (friendship)
I looooove Paul (friendship)
Exception:
You can use aimer without an adverb with your immediate family (parents, siblings, children, pets) to say that you love them (not that you are in love with them), but never with
your friends.
To say I am in love with him/her say Je l’aime.
To say I like him/her say Je l’aime bien.
To say I like it (something), say J’aime ça.
To say you are in love with someone, use the construction Aimer + person’s name,
without any adverb.
w w w . thinkfrench.com
21