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In the following sentence, just like we may use in everyday English, "I enjoy playing the piano", is it virtually the same to say "I enjoy to play the piano"? Particularly, what I understand about the "ing" one is basically that one enjoys the process of playing the instrument through time, not necessarily in a stand-alone moment of his/her life. Any thoughts on that? Plus, does "I enjoy to playing the piano" have any grammar glitch following the usage of present simple + preposition + ing verb? I would not use the last one since it doesn't sound fine to my ears for some reason.

Thank you.

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    Irrespective of meaning, "enjoy" requires a gerund-participial clause as complement. Your last example is impossible since "enjoy" does not licence such a to PP as complement.
    – BillJ
    Commented Jul 5, 2021 at 6:11
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    Note that some other verbs, like "resort/change/switch" do licence a to PP, as in "I resorted/changed/switched to playing the piano.
    – BillJ
    Commented Jul 5, 2021 at 6:32
  • And note that 'I like dancing' may or may not have the same meaning as 'I like to dance'.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 5, 2021 at 18:45
  • "Dancing" is preferably analysed as a verb, with the same meaning as "I like to dance". Noun interpretation, however, is also possible.
    – BillJ
    Commented Jul 7, 2021 at 4:59

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"Enjoy to" does not exist in English - of the three sentences that you proposed, the only one that is a valid English sentence is: "I enjoy playing the piano."

In other words, "enjoy" does not work the same way that "like" works. The following two sentences are both valid and mean the same thing: (1) I like to play the piano. (2) I like playing the piano.

Your sentence has exactly the meaning you suggested - if you enjoy playing the piano, you enjoy it as a general matter. Playing piano is an activity that you sometimes do, and you generally enjoy it when you do it. As is often the case with the present tense, the word "enjoy" here refers to something that is ongoing but not necessarily continuous.

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