Thread: like to do

How do you say to like to do something?
I like to play sports.
I like to play golf.

to play sports to you add a в in front of the sport or chess, or cards?

I like to visit my friends.

And to go to do something, do you use идти делать что-то?
I am going to swim.
Я иду плавать.

I am going to eat.
Я иду есть или кушать?

What's the difference between those two words?

If someone could help, thanks!

Originally Posted by Knave

How do you say to like to do something?
I like to play sports.
I like to play golf.

to play sports to you add a в in front of the sport or chess, or cards?

Я люблю заниматься спортом.
Я люблю играть В гольф. (Yes, we usually add the preposition "в")

Originally Posted by Knave

I like to visit my friends.?

Мне нравится ходить в гости к моим друзьям (or Мне нравится навещать своих друзей)

Originally Posted by Knave

And to go to do something, do you use идти делать что-то?.?

I am going to swim.
Я иду плавать.

Я иду плавать (if, for example, now you are going to the lake to swim)
Я собираюсь поплавать (if, for example, you are going to swim in two hours)

Originally Posted by Knave

I am going to eat.
Я иду есть или кушать?
What's the difference between those two words?

Кушать is usually used in literature, by old people and concerning children.

Oh, can't agree! I (and my friends) often say кушать instead of есть though they mean the same thing (to eat, to have meals). Иди кушать! Я хочу кушать. У нас есть что-нибудь покушать? etc. Of course, I can say Я хочу есть and У нас есть что-нибудь поесть?

I think in modern speech "кушать" sounds a little bit funny indeed. At least in the central Russia. Very trivial, used in the speech with the children and so.

Hmmm... Here, everyone says кушать. I said есть untill i realized i was the only one. now i use кушать too, almost exclusivley... And i always here кушать in like rap songs and stuff... isn't that "cool" talk ?

I'm gonna have to agree with Dogboy and Garfunkel....my friends say кушать about as much as they say есть. Maybe even more.

May be all your friends are from Southern Russia (Rostov oblast').

Or may be all people with whom I speak here are so pompous scholars and haughty Moscovites?

See where I am from? So my post only reflects our local specificity, our speech habits. Я раньше часто ездил в Москву, и не замечал, что там преобладает вариант "есть". Это для меня открытие Интересный факт.

Кушать is (or even was) considered incorrect when one talks about himself
(Кушайте, дорогие гости! - right
Я хочу кушать - wrong)
but IMO this rule is ignored by most people including me. Though "есть" is probably prevailing (I also talk about Moscow and rather educated circle) "кушать" is also very common. I'd say it's more colloquial and I don't think it is used in official style. And yes, when I was a child I think I used "кушать" more than now and I always considered this word cute in some way.

"Кушать" is the only choice for very polite speech. Consider these very old and extortedly polite forms:

"Кушайте, барин!"
"Кушать подано!"

You cannot use "есть" above. On the other hand, as already mentioned, this word should not be used concerning yourself, unless it should concern your dearest self: "не видишь, мы кушаем!" (from a movie, a VIP talking about himself in plural).