Aimer, adorer, détester (et un peu de plaire)
French has one verb where English has two: aimer means both 'to like' and 'to love', and the difference comes from context. With a person, j'aime means 'I love'. With a thing, it usually means 'I like'. To soften 'I love you' down to 'I like you' for a person, French adds bien: je t'aime bien. The stronger 'love' for things is adorer, and the opposite is détester. There's also a second verb that means 'to like' from the other direction — plaire — which we'll just preview.
aimer with a thing = 'like', with a person = 'love'
Same verb, different feel depending on the object. J'aime le café = I like coffee. J'aime mon chat = I love my cat. J'aime Pierre = I love Pierre (romantic or family love — strong). With le/la/les (the general 'I like X'): J'aime les livres (I like books in general), J'aime la musique (I like music). The article is required where English drops it — j'aime musique is wrong.
aimer bien = like (a person, gently)
If you want to say 'I like Pierre' WITHOUT the romantic weight, French adds bien: j'aime bien Pierre = I like Pierre (as a friend, he's nice). The bien softens aimer for people. Without it, j'aime Pierre sounds like a confession. Same trick: je t'aime bien = I like you (you're cool); je t'aime = I love you. Be careful with which one you say.
adorer and détester — the strong forms
adorer = to love / to adore (strong, for things or people). J'adore le chocolat = I love chocolate. J'adore ma sœur = I adore my sister. détester = to hate. Je déteste le café = I hate coffee. Je déteste travailler le dimanche = I hate working on Sundays. Both are regular -er verbs — same endings as aimer. Useful pair: j'adore … mais je déteste … = I love … but I hate ….
+ infinitive: aimer / adorer / détester + verb
All three can take an infinitive directly — no preposition. J'aime parler français = I like speaking French. J'adore manger = I love to eat. Je déteste travailler le matin = I hate working in the morning. The second verb stays in the infinitive: j'aime travailler, never j'aime travaille. This is the easiest way to talk about activities you enjoy or avoid.
Preview: plaire — the 'pleasing' verb
There's a second French verb that means 'to like', from the opposite angle. plaire literally means 'to be pleasing', and it flips the sentence: instead of 'I like the book', you say 'the book pleases me' — le livre me plaît. The most common form is ça me plaît = I like it (literally 'it pleases me'). Tu aimes Paris? and Paris te plaît? mean the same thing. plaire is everywhere with this exact sentence shape, but you don't need to conjugate it yet — ça me plaît, ça te plaît, ça lui plaît are enough for now.
