Hobbies & Free Time
Hobbies & Free Time
To say you enjoy doing something, Dutch does not use a verb meaning 'like' at all — it drops the adverb graag into an ordinary sentence. Ik speel graag voetbal is literally 'I play gladly football'.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
graag replaces the English verb 'like to'
Ik speel graag voetbal. Ik lees graag.
I like playing football. I like reading.
English needs two verbs — 'like' plus a second verb — to express enjoyment of an activity. Dutch keeps a single verb and adds graag in the adverb slot after it. The comparative liever then gives 'prefer' (Ik lees liever) and the superlative liefst gives 'like most of all' (Ik zwem het liefst). This is one construction that consistently produces shorter sentences in Dutch than in English.
houden van for lasting affection, leuk vinden for opinion
Ik hou van muziek. Ik vind voetbal leuk.
I love music. I think football is fun.
houden van is the closest thing to 'to love', used for people, music, food and pursuits — note the fixed preposition van and the dropped -d in the spoken first person, ik hou. For a lighter judgment, Dutch uses vinden ('to find') plus an adjective: Ik vind het leuk, Ik vind het saai. English would say 'I think it's fun', using 'think' rather than 'find', so the Dutch verb choice has to be learned deliberately.
aan het + infinitive for something in progress
Ik ben aan het koken.
I'm cooking.
Dutch has no continuous tense — Ik kook covers both 'I cook' and 'I am cooking'. When you specifically want to stress that an action is under way right now, the construction is zijn + aan het + infinitive: Ik ben aan het werken. It is optional where the English progressive is obligatory, so use it for emphasis rather than as a default translation of every '-ing' form.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- gladly / with pleasure
- English
- rather / prefer
- English
- to love / be fond of
- English
- to like / enjoy
- English
- the hobby
- English
- football
- English
- to cycle
- English
- to swim
- English
- free time
- English
- cooking (right now)
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