More on Likes & Dislikes (and a bit of grammar)

In a previous post we covered the way to say that you like things. In this post we'll look at how to like doing things. This is really a combination of the "liking things" post and grammar post that I said had nothing to do with Year 1....how wrong I was! So when you like doing something the "something" you like doing is formed by using the subjunctive form of the verb.
So remember the subjunctive verb is just the normal verb with να/ΝΑ in front of it, and to like something we used μ'αρέσει/Μ'ΑΡΕΣΕΙ so putting it together we get:

• I like to write - μ'αρέσει να γράφω - Μ'ΑΡΕΣΕΙ ΝΑ ΓΡΑΦΩ

So remembering to take care with articles and plurals and verb endings etc. here are some examples to illustrate:

English	Lower	Upper
I like to work in the garden	μ'αρέσει να δουλευω στο κήπο	Μ'ΑΡΕΣΕΙ ΝΑ ΔΟΥΛΕΥΩ ΣΤΟ ΚΗΠΟ
We like to eat tasty food	μας αρέσει να τρώμε νόστιμα φάγητα	ΜΑΣ ΑΡΕΣΕΙ ΝΑ ΤΡΩΜΕ ΝΟΣΤΙΜΑ ΦΑΓΗΤΑ
Do you like to read books?	σ'αρέσει να διαβάζεις βιβλία	Σ'ΑΡΕΣΕΙ ΝΑ ΔΙΑΒΑΖΕΙΣ ΒΙΒΛΙΑ
Do you like to watch football?	σ'αρέσει να βλέπεις ποδόσφαιρο	Σ'ΑΡΕΣΕΙ ΝΑ ΒΛΕΠΕΙΣ ΠΟΔΟΣΦΑΙΡΟ
He likes to understand Greek	του αρέσει να καταλαβαίνει ελληνικά	ΤΟΥ ΑΡΕΣΕΟΥΝ ΝΑ ΚΑΤΑΛΑΒΑΙΝΕΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ

In the last example above (and the "reading books" one), even though it several animals he likes to understand as opposed to just one, technically it's the action of understanding animals that is being liked, not the animals themselves, and to understand has no quantity - it is neither singular nor plural. So, you always used the singular form of the verb (normally αρέσει) when talking about liking to do something.