“To ride a bicycle” vs. “ride a bicycle” [closed]

Question

I want to describe my hobbies and would like to say that I like bicycles.

ride as noun: I like ride a bicycle

ride as verb: I like to ride a bicycle

Which variant is right?

You must include to in your version, or it will be ungrammatical. But it will still sound a bit odd if you give this as a "hobby". It's much better to say I like cycling.

Mehper C. Palavuzlar · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-24 20:18:55Z

up vote 2 down vote accepted

"I like to ride a bicycle" means the same as "I want to ride a bicycle", so you shouldn't use this variant in your context.

edited Sep 24 '11 at 20:18

answered Sep 24 '11 at 19:39

Mehper C. Palavuzlar
14.6k1557123

1

I like bicycle ride sounds wrong. I like a/the bicycle ride or I like bicycle rides would be better. – Daniel δ Sep 24 '11 at 19:54

I thought it would be suitable, but since I'm a nonnative speaker of English, I accept your suggestion. – Mehper C. Palavuzlar Sep 24 '11 at 20:18

Richard Rodriguez · Answer 2 · 2011-09-24 19:31:05Z

up vote 1 down vote

Out of the two presented, only the latter variant is correct, that is:

I like to ride a bicycle.

BUT, an even better variant would be:

I like riding a bicycle.

answered Sep 24 '11 at 19:31

Richard Rodriguez
14.5k53865

Andrew Vit · Answer 3 · 2011-09-24 20:50:46Z

When using the form with ride as a noun, we say "I like to ride".

When using ride as a verb, we say "I like riding".

But it doesn't sound right to say "I like to ride a bicycle" with the indefinite article "a". Instead we say:

"I like to ride bicycles", or "I like to ride my bicycle".

Or just avoid it altogether and say: I enjoy cycling!

closed as general reference by Jasper, Daniel δ, kiamlaluno, Matt Эллен, simchona♦ Sep 24 '11 at 21:19