💛 German: Ich mag... (Saying What You Like)

Saying what you like in German is easy: Ich mag Pizza. It means “I like pizza.”

Ich mag, then the thing you like. Whether it is one thing or many, mag stays the same: Ich mag Pizza. Ich mag Schokolade. Ich mag Hunde.

Our verb is mögen, “to like”. Ich mag (I like), du magst (you like), er mag / sie mag (he likes, she likes). Only du gets -st on the end. Careful: in English “he likes” has an s, but in German er mag has none!

For a boy we say er mag, for a girl sie mag: Er mag Äpfel. Sie mag Katzen.

If you like doing something, put gern after the verb: Ich spiele gern Fußball. Ich lese gern. It means “I like playing football. I like reading.”

If you do not like it much, say nicht gern instead of gern: Ich schwimme nicht gern. Everyone likes different things, and that is fine.

For a question, the verb jumps to the front: Magst du Eis? “Do you like ice cream?” The answer is Ja (yes) or Nein (no): Ja, ich mag Eis. Nein, ich mag Eis nicht.

Summary: Ich mag Pizza. Ich spiele gern Fußball. Ich schwimme nicht gern. Magst du Eis? Now try it in Hallo Berlin!