Level 4 · Lesson 15

我喜欢中国菜
I like Chinese food

我喜欢中国菜，我爱吃鱼。我觉得汉语很有意思。

喜欢, 爱 and 觉得 — verbs that take a noun or a whole sentence, and are always negated with 不.

听 · Listen

你喜欢中国菜吗？
 李明 —  安娜，你喜欢中国菜吗？ 
Anna, do you like Chinese food?  
 安娜 —  我很喜欢，我爱吃鱼。 
I like it a lot — I love eating fish.  
 李明 —  你不喜欢什么菜？ 
What dishes don't you like?  
 安娜 —  我不喜欢吃肉。 
I don't like eating meat.  
 李明 —  你觉得汉语难吗？ 
Do you think Chinese is hard?  
 安娜 —  我觉得汉语很有意思。 
I think Chinese is really interesting.  
 李明 —  我学英语，我觉得英语很难。我很讨厌考试。 
I'm studying English, and I think English is hard. I really hate exams.  
 安娜 —  我也讨厌考试！ 
I hate exams too!  

讲解 · Explanation

我喜欢中国菜。我爱吃鱼。

喜欢 takes either a thing (我喜欢中国菜) or an activity, and the activity is simply a verb phrase placed where the noun would go: 我喜欢吃鱼 (wǒ xǐhuan chī yú) 'I like eating fish'. 爱 is the stronger word — real love for a person, and for an activity you cannot get enough of. 讨厌 is the other end of the same line: 我讨厌考试.

我觉得汉语很有意思。

觉得 opens the door to a whole sentence. Chinese needs no word for 'that' — the second sentence follows the first with nothing between them: 我觉得 + 汉语很有意思. Keep the 很 in front of the adjective, exactly as you learnt in level 3. The reading is juéde, with 觉 as jué; the same character is jiào in 睡觉.

我不喜欢吃肉。

喜欢, 爱, 讨厌 and 觉得 describe how you feel, not something that happened, so they are negated with 不 and never with 没. 没喜欢 is not Chinese. This is the same reason you say 我不是学生 and 我不想去 — a state takes 不. Keep 没 for events that did not take place: 我没吃 (wǒ méi chī) 'I didn't eat'.

生词 · Vocabulary

词	Meaning	注 · Note
喜欢	to like	takes a noun or a verb phrase; second syllable neutral
爱	to love; to love doing	我爱吃鱼
觉得	to feel, to think	a whole sentence follows: 我觉得汉语很有意思
讨厌	to dislike, to hate	我讨厌考试
有意思	interesting	很有意思; the opposite is 没有意思

练习 · Practice

你喜欢中国菜吗？ Which sentence correctly says 'I don't like Chinese food'?

我 ______ 汉语很有意思。 A whole sentence follows the gap. Which verb allows that?

我很 ______ 考试。 Fill in the opposite of 喜欢.

排一排。 Arrange the words: 'I think Chinese is really interesting.'

喜欢、爱、觉得、讨厌、有意思 Match each word to its meaning.

用一用 · Use it

我喜欢…… 我不喜欢…… 我觉得……很有意思。

Name three foods you like and one you don't, out loud: 我喜欢鱼，我不喜欢肉. Then say what you love doing with 爱 + verb (我爱看书 wǒ ài kàn shū), and finish with two opinions built on 觉得 — one about Chinese, one about your own city: 我觉得汉语很有意思。Check yourself each time: is the negative 不, not 没?