Word
Она любит шить и готовить.
Meaning
She likes sewing and cooking.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Она любит шить и готовить.
и
and
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
любить
to love, to like
готовить
to cook
Questions & Answers about Она любит шить и готовить.
English uses "-ing" words here ("sewing and cooking"). Why does Russian use the infinitives шить and готовить?
Russian doesn't have an exact equivalent to the English gerund (the "-ing" noun used for activities). To express liking a general activity, Russian translates it literally as "likes to sew" and "likes to cook," which requires the infinitive forms of the verbs.
Why are both шить and готовить in the imperfective aspect?
When you talk about general hobbies or things you like to do, you almost always use the imperfective aspect. Verbs like любить (to love/like) and нравиться (to be pleasing) trigger the imperfective infinitive because the focus is on the ongoing process of the activity, not on a single completed action.
I remember любить has a spelling quirk. Why is it simply любит here?
The verb любить only has a consonant mutation in the "я" (I) form, becoming я люблю (an extra "л" is added). All other present tense forms, including она любит (she loves), follow the regular pattern for second conjugation verbs.
Does готовить always mean "to cook"?
No, its core meaning is "to prepare." You can use it for preparing a presentation or getting ready for a trip. However, when used on its own as a general hobby, as it is in this sentence, it is the standard Russian word for "to cook" (meaning to prepare food).