Learn Hardcore Russian: Мы любим говорить о книгах, фильмах, музыке и так далее. - We like to talk about books, movies, music, and so on.

In Russian, любить + infinitive is a common pattern for “to like doing something.”
So Мы любим говорить = “We like to talk / We enjoy talking.”

Why is говорить in the infinitive after любим?

Because Russian often uses любить + infinitive to express liking an activity:

Я люблю читать. – I like to read / I love reading.
Мы любим путешествовать. – We like travelling.

So the structure is:

[Subject in nominative] + любить (conjugated) + [infinitive]

In this sentence:

Мы – subject
любим – 1st person plural form of любить
говорить – infinitive (“to talk/speak”)

Why is it говорить, not сказать or разговаривать?

All three are related but not interchangeable:

говорить – to speak / to talk (general, process, ability, habit).
Мы любим говорить = We like talking (in general).
сказать – to say (once), to tell (a specific thing), completed single act.
You wouldn’t say Мы любим сказать; it sounds wrong. “Liking to say” needs the process/ability meaning, which is говорить.
разговаривать – to converse, to chat (with someone).
You could say Мы любим разговаривать о книгах..., meaning “We like chatting about books…”, slightly more conversational in feeling.

Here говорить is best because the sentence describes a general liking for speaking about certain topics.

What does о mean here and why is it used?

о is the preposition “about”.

The verb говорить (to speak/talk) often takes о + prepositional case to express what you talk about:

говорить о книгах – to talk about books
говорить о погоде – to talk about the weather
говорить о политике – to talk about politics

So говорить о книгах, фильмах, музыке = to talk about books, films, music.
The nouns after о must be in the prepositional case.

What case are книгах, фильмах, музыке, and why do they have those endings?

All three are in the prepositional case, because they follow the preposition о (о чём? – “about what?”).

книга (book) → о книгах (about books) – prepositional plural
- Singular: о книге
- Plural: о книгах
фильм (film/movie) → о фильмах (about films) – prepositional plural
- Singular: о фильме
- Plural: о фильмах
музыка (music) → о музыке (about music) – prepositional singular
- There is usually no plural for “music” in this sense.

So the pattern is: о + [noun in prepositional case].

Why are книгах and фильмах plural, but музыке is singular?

This matches how these ideas are normally expressed:

книги (books) and фильмы (films) are countable items. Talking about them usually means talking about multiple books/films in general, so the plural makes sense:
о книгах, о фильмах – about books, about films.
музыка (music) is usually treated as a mass noun, like “music” in English. You’re not normally “counting” it, so Russian typically uses the singular:
о музыке – about music (in general).

So the choice of plural vs. singular reflects whether the noun is treated as countable items or as a general mass concept.

Can I say про instead of о (e.g. говорить про книги)? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

говорить о книгах
говорить про книги

Both mean “to talk about books.”

The difference is mostly style:

о + prepositional – more neutral/standard, used in both written and spoken language.
про + accusative – more colloquial, common in everyday speech.
E.g. про книги, про фильмы, про музыку.

In a neutral written sentence like yours, о is slightly more typical, but про is also widely used in conversation.

When do we use о and when об as the preposition “about”?

о and об are forms of the same preposition “about”.
The choice depends on pronunciation ease:

Before most consonants: use о
- о книгах, о фильмах, о музыке
Before words starting with a vowel sound: use об to avoid awkward clusters:
- об этом (about this)
- об истории (about history)

So here we say о книгах, not об книгах, because к is a consonant and о + к is easy to pronounce.

What does и так далее mean, literally and in usage?

и так далее literally means “and so on like that”.
Functionally it is the same as “etc.” / “and so on / and so forth.”

In your sentence:

книгах, фильмах, музыке и так далее

= “books, films, music, and so on (other similar things).”

Common synonyms:

и тому подобное – and the like
и прочее – and so on, and others

и так далее is very common in speech and neutral writing.

Could I move говорить to the end, like Мы любим о книгах, фильмах, музыке говорить?

Yes, that word order is grammatically possible, but it sounds marked / more expressive.
The neutral, most common order is:

Мы любим говорить о книгах, фильмах, музыке…

Placing говорить at the end (Мы любим о книгах... говорить) can sound:

more poetic or stylistic, or
like you are emphasizing what you like to talk about, rather than the act of talking.

For everyday neutral speech, stick to:

Мы любим говорить о книгах, фильмах, музыке и так далее.

How is the whole sentence pronounced, and where is the stress?

Stresses (marked with bold on stressed syllables):

Мы лю́бим говори́ть о кни́гах, фи́льмах, му́зыке и так да́лее.

Approximate IPA:

/mɨ ˈlʲubʲɪm ɡəvɐˈrʲitʲ ɐ ˈknʲigəx ˈfʲilməx ˈmuzʲɪkʲɪ i tak ˈdalʲɪɪ/

Notes:

Мы usually pronounced with reduced vowel: [mɨ].
говорить stress is on the last syllable: говори́ть.
далее has stress on the first syllable: да́лее.

Why is it любим, not something like любимы?

любим here is the verb “(we) love / (we) like,” not an adjective.

Verb любить (to love/like), present tense:
- я люблю
- ты любишь
- он/она любит
- мы любим
- вы любите
- они любят

So мы любим = we love / we like.

любимый (with forms like любимы) is an adjective/short passive participle meaning “beloved, favorite, loved.”
That would be used differently, e.g.:

Он всем любим. – He is loved by everyone.
Моё любимое занятие – читать. – My favourite activity is reading.

In your sentence we simply need the verb: Мы любим говорить…

Is any comma needed before и так далее?

In this sentence, no extra comma is needed before и так далее beyond the usual commas in the list.

Correct punctuation:

Мы любим говорить о книгах, фильмах, музыке и так далее.

Explanation:

You list items: книгах, фильмах, музыке – separated by commas.
Then add и так далее (and so on) as the final element, joined with и (and).
Just like in English: “books, films, music and so on.”