The « -ing » form after « enjoy », « prefer », « love / hate », « like / dislike »

🔊 The teacher reads for you

“I love it.” — that sentence gives nobody any trouble, because it is a pronoun and a pronoun needs nothing after it. Now say the same thing about an action. I love… swim? I love… to swim? I love… swimming? Three endings come to mind, and English accepts only one of them after this verb. And then, two lines later, somebody says “Would you like to visit the Mausoleum?” — and suddenly the other form is the right one. So which verbs take which, and is there a rule behind it, or a list to learn by heart?

🎓في نهاية هذا الدرس ستكون قادرا على:

استعمال صيغة ⁦V-ing⁩ بعد أفعال الميل : ⁦enjoy · like · dislike · love · hate · prefer⁩
استعمال ⁦V-ing⁩ بعد كلّ حرف جرّ : ⁦keen on · fond of · afraid of · good at⁩
التمييز بين ⁦I like swimming⁩ و⁦I would like to swim⁩
إملاء صيغة ⁦-ing⁩ إملاء صحيحا : ⁦swim ⟹ swimming · write ⟹ writing⁩
التعبير عن ذوقك وعن نفورك في حوار قصير

🔑يفترض هذا الدرس أنّك تتقن:

المضارع البسيط وسين المفرد الغائب : ⁦he enjoys · she hates⁩
حروف الجرّ الأساسيّة : ⁦on · of · at · about⁩
الفرق بين الاسم والفعل في الجملة

Presentation

لاحظ الحوار أوّلا. بعد كلّ فعل من أفعال الميل تأتي صيغة واحدة : ابحث عنها، ثمّ ابحث عن الجملة الوحيدة التي تشذّ.

Two visitors, waiting for the coach

Amine: How do you like it here? Sarah: I love it. I'm crazy about it. Amine: Are you fond of walking? Sarah: Not really. I prefer sitting and looking at the sea. But my brother is keen on swimming — he swims every morning. Amine: And your sister? Sarah: She hates getting up early, so she never goes with him. She enjoys reading on the beach instead. Amine: Would you like to visit the Mausoleum this afternoon? Sarah: Yes, I'd like to. But I'm afraid of climbing — is it high? Amine: Not very. And you can stop whenever you want. Sarah: Then I'd love to see it. I dislike being in a hurry, that is all.

What does this dialogue tell you before you read any rule?

ماذا يعلّمك الحوار قبل أن تقرأ القاعدة ؟

Look at every verb of taste in the dialogue — prefer, hates, enjoys, dislike — and at what follows each one: sitting, getting, reading, being. Always the same ending, -ing, never once to.
Now look at the three expressions built with a preposition: “fond of walking”, “keen on swimming”, “afraid of climbing”. Same ending again. ⟹ After a preposition, English has no choice at all.
And in the first line: “I love it.” Here nothing is added, because it is a pronoun. ⟹ The -ing is not decoration: it is what allows a verb to sit in the place of a noun.
Then three sentences break the pattern: “Would you like to visit…”, “Yes, I'd like to.” and “I'd love to see it.” Look at what they have in common and nothing else in the dialogue has: the word would (I'd = I would).

⟹ Almost everything takes -ing. One small family takes to, and it announces itself with would. The rest of the lesson makes that division exact.

When a verb has to follow another word, English does not leave it bare. ① After a verb of taste — enjoy, like, dislike, love, hate, prefer — the second verb takes -ing. After like, love, hate and prefer, to + verb is also correct (“What do you like to drink?”), but -ing is never wrong there. “She enjoys reading.” · “I prefer sitting.” · “He hates getting up early.” ⛔ enjoy never, ever takes to: enjoy reading, never “enjoy to read”. ② After a preposition — on, of, at, about, in — the verb takes -ing. Always, with no exception. “keen on swimming” · “fond of walking” · “afraid of climbing” · “good at drawing” · “worried about arriving late” ③ But after would like, would love, would prefer — the verb takes to. “Would you like to visit the Mausoleum?” · “I'd love to see it.”

What follows what

After this	The verb takes	Example
enjoy	-ing, and nothing else is possible	She enjoys reading on the beach.
like · dislike · love · hate · prefer	-ing (like, love, hate and prefer also accept to + verb)	I prefer sitting and looking at the sea. · He hates getting up early.
a preposition — keen on, fond of, afraid of, good at, worried about	-ing	My brother is keen on swimming.
would like · would love · would prefer	to + base verb	Would you like to visit the Mausoleum?

Two of the four lines are a rule you can trust blindly: after a preposition, and after enjoy, the -ing form is the only possibility. Only the would family goes back to to + verb.

Spelling the -ing form — four rules and one trap

ordinary verb — read ⟹ **reading** · walk ⟹ **walking** · sit… careful, see belowends in a silent **-e** — write ⟹ **writing** · come ⟹ **coming** (the e goes)one vowel + one consonant, stressed — swim ⟹ **swimming** · sit ⟹ **sitting** · get ⟹ **getting** (double the consonant)ends in **-ie** — lie ⟹ **lying** · die ⟹ **dying**⚠️ **be** is regular here — be ⟹ **being**: “I dislike **being** in a hurry.”

“I like” and “I would like” do not say the same thing

⁦I like⁩ و⁦I would like⁩ لا تقولان الشيء نفسه : قارن الجملتين.

Two sentences, one verb, two meanings

a. I like swimming. b. I would like to swim. Both are correct English. Both are about swimming. But only one of them is an answer to the question “What do you enjoy?”, and only the other is an answer to “What do you want to do now?” ⟹ Which is which — and what happens to the meaning of b if you write it as “I would like swimming”?

The answer, and the rule behind it

الجواب، والقاعدة التي وراءه.

a. I like swimming — a taste. It is true today, it was true last year, and it says nothing about this afternoon. b. I would like to swim — a wish, now. It is a polite way of saying “I want to swim”, and it expects an answer. ⟹ And “I would like swimming” says neither of the two. It is the sentence that makes an examiner stop reading.

like + -ing = what you enjoy, in general. would like + to + verb = what you want, here and now — and it is the polite way to ask for something. ⭐ This is why every waiter, every guide and every shopkeeper in English says would: “Would you like to visit the Mausoleum? · What would you like to drink?” Take would away and you get “What do you like to drink?”, which asks about a lifetime instead of about this afternoon.

The repertoire of tastes — say what you feel, in one line

asking — How do you **like** it here? · Are you **keen on** …? · Are you **fond of** …?liking — I **love** it. · I'm **mad about** it. · I'm **crazy about** it.not liking — No, I don't. Actually I **hate** it. · I **dislike** …wishing, politely — **Would** you **like to** …? · I'**d love to** … · I'**d prefer to** …

⚠️ Notice Sarah's shortest answer in the dialogue: “Yes, I'd like to.” The second verb has disappeared and only to remains — because both speakers already know what it was. ⟹ English never repeats a verb it can leave behind; but it never drops the to.

⛔ Three mistakes to bury now. — not “I enjoy to read.” Enjoy is the strictest verb of the family: it takes -ing and refuses everything else. “I enjoy reading.” — not “He is keen on to swim”, not “afraid of to climb”. After a preposition, English has no infinitive. The verb becomes -ing, every single time: “keen on swimming”, “afraid of climbing”. — not “I would like swimming” when you are asking for something. As soon as would appears, the verb goes back to to: “I would like to swim”.

⛔ ثلاثة أخطاء : ⛔ ⁦enjoy to⁩ · بعد حرف الجرّ ⁦-ing⁩ دائما ولا مصدر أبدا · ⁦would like⁩ يتبعها ⁦to⁩ لا ⁦-ing⁩.

Practice

تمارين. أنجزها على كرّاسك أوّلا، ثمّ افتح التصحيح.

Exercise 1 — Put the verb in brackets in the right form

a. She enjoys (to read) on the beach. b. My brother is keen on (to swim) — he goes every morning. c. Would you like (to visit) the Mausoleum this afternoon? d. I hate (to get) up early. e. I'm afraid of (to climb). Is it high? f. I'd love (to see) it.

Answers to Exercise 1

	Answer	Why
a	She enjoys reading on the beach.	after enjoy, -ing and nothing else
b	My brother is keen on swimming.	after the preposition on ⟹ -ing, and the m doubles
c	Would you like to visit the Mausoleum?	would like ⟹ to + base verb
d	I hate getting up early.	verb of taste ⟹ -ing, and the t doubles (“I hate to get up early” is also correct)
e	I'm afraid of climbing.	after the preposition of ⟹ -ing
f	I'd love to see it.	I'd = I would ⟹ to + base verb

Exercise 2 — Write six lines about your own tastes

Answer for yourself, in full sentences, and use a different expression each time. a. Name one thing you enjoy doing after school. b. Name one thing you hate doing at home. c. Name something you are keen on. d. Name something you are good at. e. Name something you are afraid of. f. Finish with one sentence beginning I would like to … — a wish for next summer. ⛔ Check every line before you go to the next: is there a preposition just before your verb? Then it must end in -ing.

Answers to Exercise 2 — one possible set

I enjoy playing football with my cousins after school.
I hate washing the dishes.
I am keen on drawing — I fill a whole copybook every year.
I am good at repairing small things.
I am afraid of speaking in front of the whole class.
I would like to visit the Hoggar next summer.

⭐ Read the six lines again and count: five verbs in -ing and one in to. That proportion is not an accident, and it is the whole lesson in one number. The -ing form is the ordinary case; to appears only when would has appeared first.

At the BEM, this appears in Mastery of language as “put the verbs in brackets in the correct form”, and the sentences are almost always built on “enjoy, like, hate, be keen on, be good at, be afraid of”. It also earns marks in Written expression every time the subject asks you to talk about yourself, your hobbies or your free time. Keep three things ready: enjoy + -ing, always ; preposition + -ing, always ; and would like + to + verb. ⛔ The mistake examiners see every year: “I enjoy to play football”, and “I am good at to draw”.

When one verb has to follow another word, English almost always dresses it in -ing: after the verbs of taste — enjoy, like, dislike, love, hate, prefer — and after every preposition, with no exception at all. Learn those two cases and you have covered nearly everything you will ever write about yourself. The one family that escapes announces itself in advance with would: would like, would love, would prefer — and those go back to to + verb, because they are no longer talking about a taste, but about a wish.

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