Wie sagt man "to like"?

Question 1

gern haben / mögen

Answer 1

“to like” in the sense of affection or approval. They express the emotions of someone toward the person or thing liked.
Ex.: “Sie hat dich gern.” = She likes you.
“Sie mag dich.” = She likes you.

Question 2

gefallen

Answer 2

“to please; to be pleasing” can also express “liking,” and overlaps with mögen a bit, but usually conveys a more critical, detached liking, as in “I like that film.” Also: it is the (dative) object of gefallen that does the liking, while the subject represents what is liked: “Das gefällt mir = I like that.”

Question 3

schmecken

Answer 3

To express “to like (food).” Means “to taste good” with the dative.
Ex.: “Schmeckt dir das Essen in der Mensa?” = Do you like the food in the (university) cafeteria?

Also: “lieben” used for general things, not THIS specific food item.

Question 4

lieben

Answer 4

Profound enjoyment of things including food, but usually in a general sense.
Ex. “Ich liebe klassische Musik” vs. “Das Konzert gestern Abend hat mir sehr gut gefallen.”

Question 5

gern

Answer 5

The adverb gern used with a verb other than haben means “to like to do” the activity expressed by the verb, i.e., in general. To express this idea in the negative (to not lke to do something), German uses both “nicht gern” and “nicht mögen.”
Ex.: Wir wandern gern. = We like to hike.
Ich esse nicht gern allein im Restaurant. = I don’t like to eat by myself in a restaurant.

Question 6

möchten (tun), hätten gern, würden gern tun

Answer 6

Polite ways of expressing inclination or asking what someone “would like (to do),” i.e. at the moment.
Ex.: Ich möchte/hätte gern einen Kaffee. = I would like a (cup of) coffee.
Möchten Sie mitfahren? / Würden Sie gern mitfahren? = Would you like to come along?

Question 7

Lust auf/zu etwas haben

Answer 7

What someone “feels like having/doing.” It is close in meaning to möchte(n) and can be made more polite by using the subjunctive form hätte(n) instead of haben.
– When the goal in question is an object, the preposition auf (+ acc.) is used.
Ex.: Hast/hättest du Lust auf eine Tasse Tee? Do you feel like having/would you like to have a cup of tea?
– When the goal is an activity, an infinitive phrase with zu is used.
Ex.: Wir haben keine Lust zu tanzen. = We don’t feel like dancing.