Questions & Answers about Я люблю сравнивать старые фотографии с новыми.
Why is it люблю сравнивать and not люблю сравнить?
Because люблю talks about a general preference or habit (something you like doing in general), Russian normally uses the imperfective infinitive for that: сравнивать.
- сравнивать – imperfective: “to compare (as a process, in general, habitually)”
- сравнить – perfective: “to compare (once, to finish the action, reach a result)”
With verbs of liking/wanting such as любить, нравиться (с инфинитивом), уметь, the infinitive is usually imperfective when it means a general activity:
- Я люблю читать. – I like reading.
- Она любит готовить. – She likes cooking.
- Мы любим сравнивать фотографии. – We like comparing photos.
Я люблю сравнить is ungrammatical in standard Russian in this meaning.
What case are старые фотографии in, and why do they look like nominative?