"Loves to eat" and "Loves eating". What's the difference?

With "eating" there's no real difference, because it's something one does and not something one talks about in general terms as an abstract thing. Consider some other examples, and the difference emerges. I like racing vs. I like to race, for example. Racing is abstract. I could be saying that I enjoy watching the sport on TV. To race is specifically saying that I am engaging in the activity of racing.

Here's some guidance from Cambridge Dictionary: 'There is a very small difference in meaning between the two forms. The *-ing* form emphasises the action or experience. The *to*\-infinitive gives more emphasis to the results of the action or event. We often use the -*ing* form to suggest enjoyment (or lack of it), and the *to*\-infinitive form to express habits or preferences.' [https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/hate-like-love-and-prefer](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/hate-like-love-and-prefer)

There's probably some extremely specific, subtle distinction between the two. But I, as a native speaker, can't think of one. They're identical

None. They're entirely interchangeable.

I don't think there is a difference. There may be some sort of weird English rule that makes one "correct" but they both sound fine and mean the same to me

omg this is such a good picture

For me, love/like to additionally implies that the action is done often or habitually. Or it's the preferred action as opposed to something else.

No difference

In this case, they’re 100% the same meaning: the cat likes the experience of eating. But they are not always interchangeable. “The cat is eating” and “the cat eats” mean something different. And sometimes you can’t use one at all: “The cat enjoys eating” ✅ “The cat enjoys to eat” ❌

There is no difference. As someone who is learning Spanish, I learned that you can’t say ‘I love eating’ in Spanish, you would have to say ‘I love to eat.’ So that’s how I learned to translate that particular sentence from English to Spanish and back. There is no difference. Hope that helped.

This is a case where it comes down to personal preference.

Cats are my kryptonite 🥰🫠

Native speaker here, in this case there is absolutely no difference between using to ___ and ___ing. It just depends on your preference which is something I love about English. You cannot ALWAYS use to eat in place of eating however. If eating is a verb “I was eating” you cannot replace it with to eat. And if to eat is a verb “I want to eat” you cannot replace it with eating. They pretty much always interchangeable when they are used as nouns.

There isn’t

Change the verb and you see the difference "Love to dance" means that the person actually dances "Loves dancing" also includes people who watch dancing on stage or TV but don't actually dance themselves The difference is subtle but it's there

None

Well, `to eat` is an infinitive \[verb\], while `eating` is a gerund \[noun\]. But functionally they mean the same thing in the above example.

Theres not really any difference theyre both interchangeable

They are essentially the same, but some learning resources suggest that using the infinitive (loves/likes to eat) implies that you actually do it regularly. "I like to shower in cold water" (=and I generally do it) VS "I like showering in cold water" (=but really I only do it if necessary so on particularly hot days) I think that nuance is valid but generally speaking students don't need to know it, at least not until the most advanced levels.

Both are perfectly fine. I would personally use “loves to eat” by itself but “loves eating” with an object, like “loves eating bananas”. But, honestly, either is fine and I would probably alternate them in conversation without realizing it.

As others have said, they're usually interchangeable. If I had to pick out a difference... \* I like eating pasta in Italy. --> I like \[eating pasta in Italy\], that whole activity is what I like to do, it's a goal of mine to do that as much as possible. I want to buy a plane ticket to go dining at restaurants in Italy. \* I like to eat pasta in Italy. --> I like \[to eat pasta\] while I'm in Italy. This is a sentence about what I do when I'm in Italy. I like to visit museums, and other things, also. For me, it's the tiniest of differences, and really, they're the same. \*Caution\*! that "stop" doesn't work this way -- it is the opposite. "I stopped smoking" --> I do not smoke anymore. "I stopped to smoke" --> I stopped walking for the purpose of sitting down and smoking a cigarette.

No difference whatsoever

Nothing they mean exactly the same thing

They are the same in this context, I'd say "eating" would be more common and sound more natural.

The only example I can think of where they wouldn’t be interchangeable is if you were using them listing things. Ex. I love eating, swimming, and drinking —> correct I love eating, to swim, and drinking —> incorrect

Any difference is not distinct enough to emphasise I think. But the longer I've been teaching this, I've come to feel that the participle -ing is going to express a slightly more emphatic mood. This could be a way to make a difference in the forms. There's no real difference in what means only in how you express a feeling about it!

Loves to eat can be said overall. Bob loves to eat. "Loves eating" usually comes before something specific. Bob loves eating cake.

They’re pretty much the same but if you’re writing, you might choose one or the other depending on how it fits in the rest of the sentence and what sort of flow you want. I love eating pasta when traveling in Italy—maybe you use that because you like the double gerund usage. But maybe you’d prefer to have more variety and write, I love to eat pasta when traveling in Italy.

well, I know what grammatically, both options are correct, and there is no difference?

In terms of rules, „to love“ is a verb that can be followed either bei the gerund (-ing) or the to-infinitive without changing the meaning of the utterance. Of course we perceive a very slight difference when it comes to nouns and verbs, but here the overall meaning stays the same.

They're pretty much identical. Maybe the second puts a bit more emphasis on the actual action of eating?

There’s not one! Loves to eat is just more commonly used but both have the same connotation

They are mostly interchangeable, but as a native speaker, i might use them in very subtly different ways. "I love to eat" might refer to things involved in eating, and the surrounding things. I might mean that its nice to go out to a restaurant with my friends, and enjoy fellowshipping with them, while we nourish our bodies. "I love eating", on the other hand, is much more specific. To me, it refers only to the act of consumption itself. This one feels a little more gluttonous, and little more hedonistic and selfish. But really, they're both pretty much interchangeable unless youre using them in those specific ways.

There are some verbs that are followed by gerunds, some are followed by the infinitive, some are followed by both and the meaning doesn't change and others that are followed by both and the meaning does change. Love is a common example of a verb that is followed by ɓoth infinitives and gerunds with no meaning change. Other common examples of verbs followed by both with no meaning change are like, hate, continue, and begin. In some cases native speakers might have a personal preference or certain choices may feel more natural in context. But for a learner those preferences or even extremely small differences of meaning are largely not relevant to understanding this rule. For example, some native speakers might say that hate + infinitive feels unnatural but it's also used in common phrases or maybe it just uncommon where they are from. Maybe in their part of the world it's used to add emphasis or something. Their preference is not a rule grammatically. The only way to know which verbs are followed by infinitives, gerunds or both is through memorization.

Loves to eat = fit Loves eating = fat

They’re both fine but “I like eating” is the more natural/casual tense to some ears. Like if I asked someone if they had hobbies and they said “I love to hike” it would feel just slightly less natural than “I love hiking.”

Loves to eat: Uses an infinitive verb ("to eat") to emphasize the action itself. Loves eating: Uses a gerund ("eating"), focusing more on the experience or enjoyment of the activity.

so cuteeee

ESL teacher here - they’re interchangeable but if you had to make a difference between the two, I like + verbing is when you like the activity. I like + infinitive is for a preferred behaviour. So you can say “I like going to the gym” and that means you like the activity, or you can say “I like to go to the gym 3 times a week” and that means it’s a behaviour that you want to maintain

I've always perceived "eating" as the actual process of eating, you enjoy eating something because the texture of the food is nice or because it's crunchy or something like that, while "to eat" is just to consume food, and the emphasis is put on something else, like "I like to eat *at this restaurant*"

In this context, I think they're mostly interchangeable. But if I really try to analyze it, here's the impression I get: (This might just be me...) I think "eating" is a little more concrete and puts a little more emphasis on the act of eating, especially the current act, whereas "to eat" is more abstract, like it's just something the kitten likes to do in general or something it looks forward to doing in the future.

It means the same thing

I think both are correct and will get your message across. But I think “loves eating” sounds better when naming a specific food and “loves to eat” sounds better as a stand alone statement. But again, they get the same message across and you can use interchangeably imo

Apparently 'love -ing' means 'loving the activity itself' whereas 'love to-' means 'loving the consequences after the activity', but who cares So if you say 'I love eating', then it depicts 'I love the activity of eating itself' but if you say 'I love to eat', then it depicts 'I love the activity of eating (because there are some reasons behind it)' It doesn't really sound different tho anyway

There is no difference between the two. In any languages, there are two or many ways to say or write something which has a single meaning and concept. "This Kitten loves to eat bananas." ---> Information comprehended by the brain is exactly the same as ----> "This Kitten loves eating bananas." Don't be confused by these interchangeable wordings. As long as you understand and comprehend the main transmitted message/dialogue, you are solid.

There isn't really a difference, it's entirely phrasing. I wouldn't bat an eye at either phrase.

I disagree with the people saying they're the same. I find "eating" to be much more natural sounding and conversational than the infinitive case. I don't think there's any situation where any native speaker I know would choose to say "I like to swim" over "I like swimming". Applies to any verb I can think of right now (maybe some exceptions). My advice would be to use the infinitive only where the "-ing" suffix doesn't make sense, eg. "I need to go to sleep" is appropriate whereas "I need to go sleeping" is not. Aside from the (apparently quite subtle, judging by the average response in this thread) difference in the way it comes across, this will also cover your ass in more complex edge cases where the infinitive case is not appropriate to use, despite looking like it might work. For example, while you might pass for a native speaker with a phrase like "I like to swim", you absolutely wouldn't get away with "let's go to swim". In this case I think any native speaker will agree that the difference is no longer subtle. This information is relevant to UK English, early gen Z.

Loves eating makes more sense when something comes after eating. For example: She loves to eat. She loves eating pizza.

Thank you for the illustrative photo!

they’re interchangeable. the only difference is that they might sound better in different contexts.

they're entirely the same the closest thing to a distinction is that we prefer one or the other structure for certain auxiliary verbs, but like, both are completely normal on Like

They basically mean the same thing. That said, if you replaced "love" with "hate" they mean two different things. "I hate eating bananas": I think bananas taste bad, and I don't enjoy eating them at all. "I hate to eat bananas": I feel guilty about eating bananas (maybe for moral or heath reasons), but I am eating them anyway.