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Lesson 26.2A2

Hobbies & Free Time

అభిరుచులు మరియు ఖాళీ సమయం

Talking about hobbies in German leans on gern, a small adverb bolted onto a verb to mean 'like to' — filling a gap Telugu closes instead with its own dedicated liking word, ఇష్టం, paired with the person who likes something in the dative case.

Grammar Comparison

వ్యాకరణ పోలిక

gern attaches to the verb; Telugu attaches liking to a dative experiencer + ఇష్టం

German

Ich lese gern. (I like to read — gern modifies lese directly, no separate 'like' verb)

Telugu

నాకు చదవడం ఇష్టం. (to-me reading [is a] liking — dative experiencer + ఇష్టం, the same shape as Telugu's other dative-experiencer patterns)

Telugu expresses liking with ఇష్టం ('fondness/liking'), not a fully inflecting verb but a noun-like predicate that pairs the liker in dative (నాకు) with the liked activity as the sentence's real subject (చదవడం, 'the reading') — the same dative-experiencer shape you've already met for possession (నాకు ... ఉంది) and pain. German instead skips a separate 'like' predicate entirely for everyday preferences and bolts gern straight onto the action verb: lese gern, spiele gern, koche gern. So where Telugu needs a two-part frame (dative person + ఇష్టం), German needs only one small word tacked onto the verb it modifies — there's no direct one-word match for gern in Telugu.

Vocabulary

పదజాలం

Ich lese gern.ikh LAY-zeh gairn
Telugu
నాకు చదవడం ఇష్టం.naaku chadavadam ishtam.
English
I like to read.
Ich spiele gern Fußball.ikh SHPEE-leh gairn FOOS-bahl
Telugu
నాకు ఫుట్‌బాల్ ఆడటం ఇష్టం.naaku football aadatam ishtam.
English
I like to play football.
das Hobbydahs HOB-ee
Telugu
అభిరుచిabhiruchi
English
hobby
schwimmenSHVIM-en
Telugu
ఈత కొట్టడంeetha kottadam
English
to swim
singenZING-en
Telugu
పాడటంpaadatam
English
to sing
malenMAH-len
Telugu
చిత్రం వేయడంchitram veyadam
English
to paint