Grammar ~20 min of the core left

Say what you like and what you want

After this lesson you can

I can say what activities I like and what I want, and ask other people the same.

Start the lesson Core 18–20 min · steps: 6 · optional: +2

Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.

Grammar

4 min

After like, love, hate, an activity is named with the -ing form.

I like reading. an activity I enjoy
She loves cooking. an activity she enjoys very much
I don't like getting up early. an activity I don't enjoy
Do you like swimming? a question about an activity

The -ing form here is the name of an activity, not a tense. This is not the Present Continuous: that tense comes in lesson 25, and there -ing will mean something else.

After want, an activity is named with the form with to.

I want to go home. a wish: what I want to do now
I don't want to work on Sunday. a negative wish
Do you want to eat? a question about a wish, often an offer

Spelling of -ing: read → reading, but write → writing (the silent e drops), swim → swimming (the consonant doubles).

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Common learner errors

written for your language
1

want without to

✗ I want go home

✓ I want to go home

In many languages two verbs simply stand next to each other: Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian. In others the second verb has its own ending and no small word before it: Spanish quiero ir, French je veux aller, German ich will gehen. English needs to between them.

2

The order with very much

✗ I like very much coffee

✓ I like coffee very much

In Spanish, Portuguese, French or Italian "very much" comes straight after the verb (Spanish me gusta mucho el café, French j'aime beaucoup le café). This is the same rule as in lesson 7: nothing goes between the verb and its object.

3

-ing where you need to

✗ I want going home

✓ I want to go home

This often happens to learners of any language just after they learn like + -ing: they put -ing after every verb. The rule is simple: after like — -ing, after want — to.

Pronunciation

3 min

The ending -ing is one nasal sound, /ŋ/, not "n" + "g". The tip of your tongue does not touch your teeth, and the sound goes through your nose: reading /ˈriːdɪŋ/, swimming /ˈswɪmɪŋ/.

In many languages "ng" at the end of a word is said as two sounds, and then an English listener hears an extra consonant. Check: sing and sin are different words, and the only difference is this sound.

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Text

3 min

I like reading and I love cooking. I don't like getting up early. My sister loves swimming. She swims every morning. I want to go to Italy in May. I want to see Rome. I don't want to work on Sunday, because I want to rest.

Reading aloud

Exercises

8–10 min

1. Gap fill.

  1. I like (read)
  2. I want (go) home
  3. She loves (cook)
  4. Do you want (eat)?
Show the answers
reading, to go, cooking, to eat.

2. Error correction.

  1. I want go home.
  2. I like very much coffee.
  3. I want going to Italy.
Show the answers
I want to go home. / I like coffee very much. / I want to go to Italy.

3. Write the -ing form.

read, write, swim, cook, get up

Show the answers
reading, writing, swimming, cooking, getting up.

4. Matching.

  1. like
  2. love
  3. hate
  4. want
Show the answers
like, love, hate → -ing; want → to.
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Summary

Covered

  • like / love / hate + -ing
  • want to + verb
  • the spelling of -ing

Next — lesson 20: what I can do.

End of the core

The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.

Lesson 20

optional

Vocabulary for your deck

13 words
  • swim /swɪm/ to move through water using your arms and legs
  • cook /kʊk/ to make food ready to eat
  • dance /dɑːns/ to move your body to music
  • sing /sɪŋ/ to make music with your voice
  • travel /ˈtrævl/ to go to other places or countries
  • rest /rest/ to relax or sleep after work
  • write /raɪt/ to put words on paper or on a screen
  • see /siː/ to know something with your eyes
  • music /ˈmjuːzɪk/ sounds people make with their voice or instruments
  • film /fɪlm/ a story you watch at the cinema or on TV
  • sport /spɔːt/ a game or activity like football or swimming
  • love /lʌv/ to like very much
  • hate /heɪt/ to not like at all

Writing

Five sentences: what you like, what you don't like, what you want.

Example

I like reading and cooking. I don't like getting up early. I want to go to Italy. I want to see Rome.

Checklist

The draft is saved on this device
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Practise this lesson in the other sections

Dictationbased on this lesson Write down what you hear. The check shows every word that differs, and how. Write the dictation Reading aloudbased on this lesson Read the lesson text aloud — speech recognition highlights the words it did not catch. Read the text aloud Reading and listeningA1–C1 Texts at every level with comprehension questions; the transcript opens after you answer. Try it

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