I never liked that umbrella stand

Question

Susan：Good night, Harry. Have a safe trip home.
[She closes the door. A moment later there is a loud sound in the hall. Susan opens the door.] Are you all right?
Harry：[He fell over the umbrella stand, and now he is picking it up.] Sorry.
Susan：[She smiles.] I never liked that umbrella stand. Good night, Harry.

What does "I never liked that umbrella stand." mean?
As I know, never has two meanings:
1.not ever; at no time; not at any time:
2.not at all; absolutely not:

These confuse me a lot. To my understanding, this sentence could have several meanings.

1.I never like that umbrella stand.(never = not at all)
I don't like that umbrella stand at all.

2.I never liked that umbrella stand.(never = not at all)
I didn't like that umbrella stand at all.(I don't know if the past simple could be used here, if so, what does it mean in the above context? )

3.I have never liked that umbrella stand.(never = not ever)
I haven't liked that umbrella stand at any time before.

4.I never liked that umbrella stand.(never = not ever)
Same as No.3 but express the present perfect tense in the AE way.

Especially for the No.2 and the No.4, I don't know which one is correct.

Answer 1

"I never liked it (anyway)" is an idiomatic, somewhat-joking way to forgive a person for breaking something you own. It's like saying "Hey, you did me a favor by getting rid of that ugly piece of crap for me." It's in past tense because the object itself is now a thing of the past.

Though, it does seem a bit unusual to say that in the passage you've quoted: It gives no indication that the umbrella stand was broken, just knocked over.

Answer 2

Always, sometimes, always, never, ever [I misunderstood your question at first]

I like dogs.

I have always liked dogs.

Have you always like dogs?

Yes, I have.

John doesn't like dogs/

But has John ever liked dogs?

No, he has never liked dogs. [when he has seen them in the past]

But not present: I never like dogs [when I see them].

But not: I never like that umbrella stand. [with an s because that would mean it's a general statement, which here would not make sense. Please see "I never like dogs", above. You can make a general statement with the present tense, but not a single object, just once.

• I never like coffee [when it is served to me.]
• I never like umbrella stands [when I see them in shops.]

But: I never liked that umbrella stand. OK, because you can never have liked something in the past.

The meaning of these adverbs doesn't change with a tense.

Never (ever, question form) is opposed to always or sometimes.

The meaning does not change. What changes is the verb tense:

I have never liked that umbrella stand, and I continue not to like it now.

General statements about things must take an s in the case of countable nouns except in certain rather literary texts.