When to use LIKE versus LOVE when Speaking English

So, I'm pretty excited today

because it's finally snowing here in Canada

and I love snow.

I love it when it starts to snow outside.

As an English learner, though,

you might be wondering,

why do native English speakers sometimes use the word love

and sometimes use the word like?

Well, in this English lesson,

I will help you learn when to choose the word love

and when to choose the word like,

and at the end, we'll also look at some English phrases

that have the word love.

(bright music)

Well, hey, welcome to this English lesson

where I'm going to help you learn when to use the word love

and when to use the word like.

I love it that you are learning English.

You can hear, there, that I used the word love

to express something that gives me joy,

to express something that I enjoy

about the fact that you are watching these videos.

So I love it that you're here,

but if you are new,

don't forget to click that red subscribe button below

and give me a thumbs up

if this video is helping you learn a little bit of English.

Or I could say,

"Give me a thumbs up if you like this video."

So the main difference between like and love

is that there is a difference in the degree

to which the thing or person brings you joy, okay?

So when we say that we like something or love something,

it's a difference in how much that thing brings us joy.

But there is also a little bit of a difference

between how we use like and love

when we're talking about things or activities

and when we're talking about people.

So here's a good example of using like versus love

when you're talking about a thing.

I like this tree.

I like this tree a lot

because it is a tree that Jen and I planted

when we first moved to the farm, but I love this tree.

I love this tree a lot

because this tree has been across the river

and I have been looking at this tree ever since I was a kid.

This tree is super old, and I love it.

So that would mean that I like this tree,

but this tree brings me more joy

and I enjoy looking at this tree a lot more than this tree.

So I like this tree, but I love this tree.

And I can use the same example when talking about weather.

I like rain.

I actually like rainy days.

Rainy days are nice

because there's just the beautiful sound of rain outside

and rain makes things grow.

But for some reason, I love snow,

so snow brings me more joy than rain.

Rain does bring me joy, and I do like it,

but snow brings me a lot more joy,

even when it's landing on my face

while I'm trying to make a video.

So I love snow, and I like rain.

So, things are a little different, though,

when you are using like or love

when you are talking about people,

and you need to be careful here.

We use the word like

to express the fact that certain people bring us joy,

that it's nice to be around them.

It's nice to hang out with them.

I like the people I work with.

I like the students that I have in my class.

But in English, we tend to reserve the word love

when talking about people for close family members

or people that we are romantically attached to.

So for instance, I love my kids, I love my mom,

and I obviously love Jen.

So you need to be careful in English

when using the word love to talk about people

because it wouldn't be appropriate

to tell someone who's in a class with you learning English

that you love them.

But here's how you can use the word love safely

to talk about another person.

You can say, "I love working with you."

You could say, "I love taking this class with you."

Those sentences would be totally appropriate,

and you could say them in English

and no one would look at you funny.

So, because we use the word love

to talk about romantic love between two people,

we have a few English phrases that we use

when we talk about love.

We say that two people fall in love.

When you fall in love with someone,

it means that you are romantically attracted to them

and that they're a person

that you just think about all the time.

They're a person that you want to be with, maybe for life,

so when you fall in love,

it means that you only think about that person

and you want to be with them forever.

In fact, if you're really in love with someone,

we use the phrase "head over heels in love."

When you are head over heels in love with someone,

it means that you really, really love them a lot.

Sometimes when people meet for the first time,

it is love at first sight.

Love at first sight refers to a situation

where two people see each other for the first time

and they're so attracted to each other

that they think they're in love.

Maybe they actually are in love,

but I usually think they think they're in love,

or at least they're starting to fall in love.

When two people love each other a lot,

we also sometimes say that they are madly in love.

When you are madly in love with someone,

you are really in love with them.

And we sometimes say that people are blinded by love.

When you are blinded by love,

it means that no matter what the person does who you love,

you will always believe them.

I think I might be blinded by my love of snow.

It really was just a little bit too snowy out here today

to make a video, but I think I got it done.

So I'm not quite sure how to describe this one to you,

so I'm going to ask you to look it up,

but we also have the English phrase "to make love."

When two people make love...

I'll let you look it up and figure it out.

There, that's a bit better.

I went inside and switched cameras

because there was so much snow coming down

that I was getting covered

and my camera was getting a lot of snow on it.

So I've switched to my other camera,

and let's finish this video.

So this one is kind of awkward to explain,

and it's the English phrase "love handles."

Love handles are when you start

to get a little bit of fat right here.

When you start to put weight on

and you have little spots on your stomach

where there is a lot of body fat,

we call those love handles.

It's kind of an awkward thing,

but that's what they're called.

So you can fall in love, but you can also fall out of love.

When two people fall out of love,

it means that they don't love each other anymore.

Sometimes when you watch a romantic movie,

you'll notice that the person is looking for true love

or they're looking for their true love.

True love would be

when you find the person that you are meant to be with,

and you can refer to that person as your true love.

When we talk about our families,

when we talk about our spouses, our kids,

and our brothers and sisters and mom and dad,

we use the English phrase "loved ones."

We refer to them as our loved ones.

So Jen and my kids are my loved ones.

It's a really cool English phrase

to talk about the people who you love most in your life.

So you've heard me a number of times in this video say,

"I love it," and this is an expression or phrase in English

that you will hear quite often

when people talk about things that they love,

things that they just love or things that they love doing.

I really love snow.

I love it.

I think maybe I've mentioned that

too many times in this video,

but yes, I definitely love it.

There's another English phrase, "a labour of love."

When something is a labour of love,

it is a job that you do for someone

because you love them.

When you do a lot of laundry,

like Jen and I do, we do a lot of laundry,

it is definitely a labour of love.

We don't wash all of our kids' clothes

because we love doing laundry.

We wash all of our children's clothes

because we love our children, so it is a labour of love.

It is a job we do

because we love the people who that job helps.

In English, when you send someone a letter who you love,

maybe to your mum or dad, you can end that letter or email

by saying, "Lots of love."

So at the end of the letter, you could say,

"I hope things are going well for you.

"Lots of love from your son, Bob."

I should write my mom a letter sometime.

She lives really close by,

but she would probably appreciate a letter from me.

Well, hey, that was just a little English lesson

about the difference between like and love.

I'm Bob the Canadian,

and you are learning English with me here on this channel.

I love snow, but you can see it landing on my face here

while I'm making this video,

and it's just making me laugh a little bit.

Anyways, where was I?

Please subscribe if you are new here,

and give me a thumbs up if this video helped you learn

just a little bit more English.

And while you're here,

why don't you stick around and watch another video?

(bright music)