Learn English – Distinction between singular “like” and plural “likes”

pronounssingular-vs-plural

I received this question from a non-native English speaker and was not sure how to answer it.

We can see that the noun "like", when used with pronouns, can be defined in singular and plural as:

  • like = I, we, you, they
    ("I like running", "We like running"… etc)

  • likes = He, she, it
    ("He likes running"… etc)

First question:
What is the rule that defines whether or not the singular or plural form of like will be used with the pronoun? "They" and "we" are both plural but receive the singular form of like. Why? Likewise, he/she/it is singular but receives the plural form.

But there are exceptions. Let's take the pronoun he and look at the following cases:

  • "He likes to watch movies"
  • "He doesn't like to watch movies"
  • "He does like to watch movies"
  • "Does he like to watch movies?"

As you can see, auxiliary verbs, questions, and negations appear to alter this rule so that he could be paired with "like" or "likes" depending on the context.

So, related to the first question, when do other contextual things alter the basic rules that defines the usage of "like" and "likes"? Do gerund forms and infinitives with "like" change the context too?

Best Answer

This has nothing to do with singular/plural and everything to do with verb conjugation, mostly because like, as it's used here is a verb, not a noun.

  • "He likes to watch movies"
    • Third person singular present tense.
  • "They like to watch movies"
    • Third person plural present tense.
  • You like
    • Second person present tense
  • "He doesn't like to watch movies"
  • "He does like to watch movies"
  • "Does he like to watch movies?"
    • All three of the above are infinitive.
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