Aimer = to love, like something / someone

Hi Sherry, 

I love that song and Jacques Brel's work in general...

It is true to say that you would rather say,

'Je t' aimais pas beaucoup'  for 'I didn't like you much' but for the song's poetic rhythm  it works well and serves to contrast the other 'Je t'aimais bien' ...

Merci, Cécile. I'm just becoming acquainted with Brel's work and like it very much. Yes, that usage does work well as a contrast—I hadn't thought of that. Hooray for artistic license!

Hi Darren,

‘Aimer’ is to love OR to like in French depending on the context. 

If you read the Q&A section at the bottom of the lesson you will see interesting takes on the verb aimer....

Incidently I have some friends who have a love affair with sugar!

I agree AIMER meaning depends on context.  I have WordReference open in front of me. And Thoughtco.com. And DuoLingo.

Kwiziq sentence j’aime le sucre doesn’t mean I love sugar according to these references, it means: I like sugar. 

J’aime le sucre means I like sugar.  Aimer followed by a noun means LIKE.

 AIMER with a direct object pronoun la le and les can ONLY be used with people. Je t’aime. I love her.

Otherwise, with a noun like sugar, the sentence would be j’aime ça. I like it. 

Glad to know your friends are addicted to sugar.

Hi Darren,

I think your interpretation of the meaning of AIMER is much too narrow and prescriptive.

The 9th edition of the Dictionary of the Académie française provides a definition of AIMER:

    "Apprécier, estimer bon ou beau, trouver agréable"

The French (including Kwiziq's) use of AIMER entirely correlates to this use and to my use of  TO LOVE in my native English dialect.

I love wine, I love music, I love driving my car. This in no way indicates I would like to form a union with these entities.

In fact, I adore football : this does not literally mean that I lie prostrate in font of some altar dedicated to the glory of the beautiful game!

You can, of course, temper the intensity of AIMER by appending the adverb BIEN to more or less correlate with the English verb TO LIKE.

This usage exactly coincides with Cécile's reply and this, coming from a native speaker would, for me, would always, in the first instance,  eclipse that of some random website.

p.s Je t’aime means I love you not I love her

Tom

Hi Darren

Just wanted to chip in here too as it's quite common (and completely understandable) for people to check online resources when they aren't sure about one of our lessons and you may find what looks like contradictory information.

However, checking a dictionary or google isn't a reliable way to understand whether something is correct, or the full scope of the use of language.

All of Kwiziq's content is authored by expert language teachers who are native in the county of the language, grew up speaking it and have many years of experience teaching it.

So if you find anything online that appears to contradict one of our lessons, it's extremely unlikely that it's our content that's incorrect. 

Of course, that shouldn't stop you from asking questions on here or asking for further explanation or clarification, but be reassured that you are getting expert and correct explanations from us.

All the best, Gruff

I would agree that Google is never the best source for grammar or overall usage, but them seem to be good enough for startups like Lilt in San Francisco to begin building upon.  Nevertheless, I never stated that Google was my source as it is unreliable. 

But, you may care to comment upon WordReference specifically if you see any inconsistencies between what they have and what Kwiziq is saying. 

Respectfully,

Darren

Tom,

You are correct, as Je t'aime means I love her. But you failed to acknowledge that the structure of a sentence utilizing aimer can change based upon whether the direct object pronoun is appropriate when the pronoun represents a person or an object.

Nevertheless, I'm fairly sure that WordReference and Thought.co web site would generally not be considered "random" websites.

With due respect, thanks for your input.

Darren

Hi Darren, 

I didn't mean that WordReference wasn't a reliable source of information, but that a dictionary (no matter how good - and WordReference is excellent - it's my personal favourite) isn't going to tell you the full scope of how language is used in reality.

In fact, their entry on 'aimer' is fairly comprehensive and isn't contradicting this lesson. I'm not sure why you felt it was?

Third entry: 

aimer vtr (être contenté par, goûter [qch]) like⇒ vtr enjoy⇒ vtr (stronger) love⇒ vtr

Gruff, thank you for your comments and support. I appreciate your interest in my comments. 

My conclusions overall so far in my brief use of Kwiziq are that:

My age seems to be a factor in my ability to grasp the information you are presenting in a deep and meaningful way.  

The process of testing inherently seeks to expose weaknesses in the user’s knowledge.  And then hopefully provide guidance to move the user through the learning process.  So far I’m not feeling the examples are enough, or I need to focus on one area longer.  The testing process has begun to feel more like a dentist visit where my teeth are constantly being probed for painful weaknesses. (Sorry but the best analogy I could come up with). 

The Kwiziq process, while perhaps effective for most learners, lacks an enjoyment component for me.  I just feel on trial every time I open the site.  Oh no, here we go again with the minutiae of faire mal à/ faire du mal à, faire peur à, etc.. I feel like I have hit a wall.

I shall continue using DuoLingo, Memrise, a private tutor and probably Kwiziq as I purchased a year of access, but appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts, frustrations and hopefully my respect for the work you have done here.  

Darren

Hi Darren - thanks for this honest feedback! I feel your pain!

Hopefully my link in the other post with learning tips was helpful - it really is very normal to feel this way transitioning from A1 to A2. It's a very tough stage.

I should have mentioned also that Kwiziq is designed specifically for post-beginner learners and yes, it deliberately seeks out weak areas in order to drill them to correct them. I don't know how recently you started to learn French but if you've only started (or restarted) recently started then Kwiziq might be a little too early for you. Duolingo is a fantastic resource for beginners and if you have a personal tutor then that is one of the best ways to learn for sure.

In terms of how to make the best of Kwiziq, given your stage, I would suggest you check out the notebook feature if KwizBot's recommendations are not quite right for you. You can use these to construct your own lists of topics that you want to master (even better if you get your tutor to help you decide what to focus on). Then you can kwiz against your own lists at your own pace - they won't change but KwizBot will still pick questions for you each time (and he'll also try to find exercises that match your notebook too and display them on the notebook page - this is a bit of a hidden gem of feature - we haven't really promoted it yet).

As a Premium subscriber, you can create as many notebooks as you like so lots of small, focussed lists (5 - 8 topics max) can be very helpful to master specific areas.

You can browse the library and find lessons by level or area and build up smaller lists themed around what you would like to practise.

I highly recommend the reading, dictées and writing exercises - which you'll also find in the library - as a more relaxed way to practise. These are guided but self-marked so they can be easier (but they're still challenging!). I don't think you've tried these yet from what I can see so do check them out!

Here's an example A1 dictation:

A1: Une Journée Chargée (part 1)

The improvement timeline on your dashboard is there to show you that you're making progress even when you feel you're not (and yours looks fantastic!).

Oh one more useful tip: you can always choose to test at a different level so if you need a break from A2, try testing at A1 again and maybe go for your A1 gold shield (and your A0 silver, gold and diamond!). You don't have to follow KwizBot's level recommendations - he'll adapt to your choices. We build the foundation trophy system to reward students who go back and work on their foundations - it pays off!

Hope this is helpful! 

And Courage! 

Gruff

Ne pas + <infinitive> is the most common instance where ne pas does not bracket the verb. For example:

C'est mieux avoir aimé une fois que ne jamais avoir aimé du tout. -- It is better to have loved once than never to have loved at all.

Note that ne jamais are together and stand before the past infinitive (avoir aimé).

Hi David ,

'Aimer' quelque chose is, 'to like' and 'to love' something .

Your intonation would clarify the intensity of meaning I think.

You could always use the verb 'plaire' and its unusual construction to indicate plain old 'liking  something' -

Paris me plaît.

Have a look at the following lesson if you are not familiar with the verb 'plaire'

Using "plaire" to express liking something / someone

Hope this helps!

Regards

David

With 'things' you need to add an adverb to 'aimer' to convey a higher intensity of feeling:

"J'aime beaucoup Paris" is stronger than for example, 

"j'aime Paris au printemps" ( I like Paris in the Spring)...

However today in a quiz I was asked to select multiple possibilitires for "How could you say 'I love sugar'?". I selected both "J'aime le sucre" and "J'adore le sucre". I was marked down because "J'aime le sucre" was only "Nearly" right. Why is that?

This lesson says:

Used on its own, aimer generally means 'to love' <someone> and 'to love or to like' (depending on intensity) <something>:

J'aime Marie
I love Marie

J'aime Paris
I love Paris

Elle aime sa nouvelle veste.
She loves her new jacket.

In the third example here "sa nouvelle veste" is a thing and in the quiz "le sucre" is a thing so why is "love"  appropriate in the first case but not the second?

Hi David. As I recall, I believe to say "I like Paris" in french, you could say "J'aime bien Paris" which turns 'love' into 'like'.

Hi Mary,

"Je t'aime" is much more a fixed idiomatic formula to express romantic love than it is in English. Particularly in American English you the phrase "I love you" is almost in inflationary use in many different situation. Not so in French.

That said, it is apparently OK to say "Je t'aime" to one's child, too. I have this on the authority of a Belgian mother. Though that might be different in some other French speaking parts of the world.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Google translate says "I really like" is "j'aime vraiment". Why isn't it accepted?

Hi Jay,

'Tu aimes bien ma sœur?' is safer in this case!

'Tu aimes ma sœur? 'could be construed as love.

Hope this helps!

Bonjour Fiona !

J'adore is equivalent to J'aime beaucoup = I love / I like very much

The nuance is that you wouldn't use it to express love for someone, as in in love with.

You can say Je n'aime pas beaucoup [ça] = I don't like [that] very much

I hope that's helpful!
Bonne journée !

Yes, but with the proper timbre, "Je t'adore" can make a heart melt.

-- Chris.

Bonjour,

Salut Aurelie. That's a big difference between the two languages. In English, adore is a deeper emotion than love when speaking of someone. -to love and respect, -to love deeply, -to worship, etc.

Bonjour Joakim,

Here it's a question of intensity. When you use aimer for things, most of the time, you are correct, you would use 'to like' in English. However, sometimes you do say "I love pasta!": to mark the intensity, you can still use aimer, or adorer.

I updated the lesson to hopefully put that point across, please let us know what you think:
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/how-to-use-aimer-to-express-loving-and-liking-something-someone

A bientôt !