Day 13: Likes and dislikes

gern · mögen · gern → lieber → am liebsten · Lieblings- · hobbies · 25 min

German mostly does not use a verb meaning "to like". It uses a little word attached to whatever you are doing:

Ich trinke gern Kaffee. — literally "I drink gladly coffee."

That sentence has no word for "like" in it at all. Getting this one structural shift is today's whole job, and it is the difference between textbook German and how people actually speak.

1. ★★ gern — the German way to like doing things

Take any verb. Add gern. You now like doing it.

⚠️ There is no "to like" verb and no -ing form here. English needs two words — like + reading. German conjugates the real verb and drops gern in after it.

★ The habit to build: when you want to say "I like doing X", do not look for a word for "like". Say X, then add gern. It feels wrong for two days and then it feels obvious.

Where gern goes

After the conjugated verb, and before a noun object:

And with V2 fronting: Kaffee trinke ich gern.

Not liking it

Put nicht in front of gern:

nicht gern is much softer than it looks. It is the normal, polite way to decline — not a complaint.

2. mögen — liking a thing, not an activity

When there is no verb, only a noun, use mögen.

⚠️ Same shape as möchten on Day 12 — ich mag and er mag are identical, and neither takes -t. Both are modal verbs. (möchten is in fact a polite form of mögen, which is why they look like relatives.)

★ Note the negation: mögen takes an accusative object, so "I don't like coffee" is keinen Kaffee, not nicht. Day 11 again — der Kaffee → keinen.

gern or mögen?

★ When in doubt with food and drink, both are correct and both sound native.

3. ★ gern → lieber → am liebsten

This is the ladder, and it is how Germans express preference without any comparative grammar at all:

Ich trinke gern Tee, aber lieber Kaffee — am liebsten Wein.I like tea, but I prefer coffee — most of all, wine.

This is enormously useful early, because it gives you comparison before you learn comparative adjectives:

★ Lieber Tee. on its own is a complete, natural answer. Two words, no verb.

4. Lieblings- — your favourite anything

Glue Lieblings- onto any noun and you have "favourite ___".

⚠️ The gender comes from the second half, not from Lieblings-: das Essen → mein Lieblingsessen · die Stadt → meine Lieblingsstadt.

★ This is your first compound noun, and German runs on them. The rule for every compound: the last word decides the gender and the meaning; everything before it is just description. der Apfel + der Saft = der Apfelsaft (a kind of juice).

Mein Lieblingsessen ist Pizza. — the single most useful sentence for small talk today.

5. Hobbies

★ German says Sport machen and Musik hören, not "I do sports" as one word.Learn these as noun + verb pairs, exactly the way you learned Hunger haben on Day 5.

Asking:

6. Dialogue

Anna: Was machst du gern in deiner Freizeit? — in DY-nuh FRY-tsite — in your free timeAlex: Ich lese gern und ich koche sehr gern. Und du?Anna: Ich mag Sport. Ich spiele gern Fußball und ich schwimme gern.Alex: Schwimmst du oft? — Anna: Zweimal pro Woche. Magst du Sport?Alex: Nicht so gern, ehrlich gesagt. — AIR-likh guh-ZAHKT — honestlyAnna: Und was ist dein Lieblingsessen?Alex: Mein Lieblingsessen ist Pizza. Ich mag italienisches Essen.Anna: Ich auch! Möchtest du heute Abend Pizza essen oder lieber kochen?Alex: Lieber kochen. Ich koche für dich!Anna: Am liebsten esse ich zu Hause. Perfekt.

★ Three shapes in there, all doing the same job: gern + verb (ich lese gern), mögen + noun (ich mag Sport), and the ladder (lieber kochen / am liebsten esse ich).Notice Am liebsten esse ich — fronting it pushes the verb to slot two, exactly as Day 4 said.

7. Exercises

A. gern or mögen? Write the German.

1. I like reading. 2. I like pizza. 3. I like cooking. 4. Do you like dogs?
2. I like playing football.

B. Fill in mögen.

1. Ich ___ Kaffee. 2. ___ du Hunde? 3. Er ___ Sport.
2. Wir ___ Pizza. 5. ___ Sie Musik? (formal)

C. gern, lieber, or am liebsten?

1. Ich trinke ___ Tee. (I like)
2. Aber ich trinke ___ Kaffee. (prefer)
3. Und ___ trinke ich Wein. (best of all)
4. Möchtest du Tee oder Kaffee? — ___ Kaffee.

D. Make it negative.

1. Ich koche gern. 2. Ich mag Kaffee. 3. Ich lese gern.

E. Build the compound and give the right possessive.

1. my favourite film (der Film) 2. my favourite city (die Stadt)
2. my favourite book (das Buch) 4. apple juice (der Apfel + der Saft)

F. ⚠️ Fix the error.

1. Ich mag lesen.
2. Ich gern trinke Kaffee.
3. Er mögt Sport.
4. Ich mag nicht Kaffee.
5. Meine Lieblingsessen ist Pizza.

8. Today's 10 sentences (flashcards)

1. Was machst du gern? — What do you like doing? (vass MAKHST doo GAIRN)
2. Ich lese gern. — I like reading (ikh LAY-zuh gairn)
3. Ich koche sehr gern. — I really like cooking (ikh KOKH-uh zair GAIRN)
4. Ich mag Pizza. — I like pizza (ikh MAHK PIT-sa)
5. Magst du Sport? — Do you like sport? (MAHKST doo SHPORT)
6. Ich mag keinen Kaffee. — I don't like coffee (ikh mahk KY-nen KA-fay)
7. Ich trinke lieber Tee. — I prefer tea (ikh TRIN-kuh LEE-buh TAY)
8. Am liebsten bleibe ich zu Hause. — Most of all I like staying home (am LEEPS-ten BLY-buh ikh tsoo HOW-zuh)
9. Mein Lieblingsessen ist Pizza. — My favourite food is pizza (mine LEEP-lings-es-sen)
10. Ich gehe nicht gern früh schlafen. — I don't like going to bed early (nikht gairn FREW SHLAH-fen)

9. 📲 Upload to LangNote

Upload section 6 (the dialogue) and section 8, plus five sentences about your own likes → study language German.

★ Tomorrow is the week 2 review — dictation, a two-minute talk, a restaurant role-play and forty questions. Bring the family description you wrote on Day 10.

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