Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
爱 and 喜欢: love and like
Original Chinese study material with English explanations. Simplified Chinese with pinyin; beginner, intermediate and advanced are editorial difficulty labels.
喜欢 (xǐhuan) expresses liking a person, thing or activity. 爱 (ài) can express love or a strong fondness; before an activity it can also describe a tendency.
我喜欢看书。
Wǒ xǐhuan kàn shū.
I like reading.
她很爱家人。
Tā hěn ài jiārén.
She loves her family very much.
Do not assume 爱 always describes romantic love. Traditional 愛 and simplified 爱 represent the same word.
Try it
How would you say “I like tea”?
- 我喜欢茶。
- 我知道茶。
- 我在茶。
Answer and explanation
我喜欢茶。. 喜欢 takes the thing you like as its object.