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Let's say someone told me that he was from a particular country, can I say "I like there." to that person to mean "I like that place."? Also, can I say "I like here." to mean that I like the place I'm at?

I'm wondering if we can say these in American English because there is a difference between BE and AE in terms of the usage of "there" in those kind of sentences as far as I know. For example, from what I heard, British people don't say sentences like "I visited there." while Americans can say it.

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The circumstances under which you can say I like here and I like there are very narrow, when here and there are your choices and you are turning the words into ad hoc labels for the two locations:

For this part of the show, you can stand here or there.
-- I like here.

If we are referring to the ambience of a place, we say I like it here or I like it there as Lambie says in his answer.

The reason for this is that these words are deictic, referring to more than a mere location: they refer to the location from a certain perspective, usually the speaker's, and so owing to that complexity they do not serve as complements of like.

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  • I don't think it's a good idea to mix apples and oranges.
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 20:23
  • Thanks. So, to exactly mean that I like a place, I have to say sentences like "I like that place/this place.", "I like that country/this country.", "I like that park/this park" etc. I cannot say "I like there/here". It's both grammatically and idiomatically wrong based on what you said. Okay. Btw, I think "I like it there" would be weird if I have never been to the place I'm referring to. For example Australia seems like a nice country to me, but I wouldn't say "I like it there" referring to Australia since I've never been there. But you are saying "I like there" is also wrong.
    – Fire and Ice
    Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 20:37
  • So if I'm talking about Australia, I can say "I like that place" or "I like that country", but I cannot say "I like there". This is what I understood from the answers I received here.
    – Fire and Ice
    Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 20:37
  • @Fire and Ice: You are correct: it in "I like it there" refers to something in your experience and so to say those words of a place implies that you've been there, and if you haven't been there, it would be an odd thing to say.
    – TimR
    Commented Oct 29, 2018 at 11:55
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This is not an AmE or BrE issue at all.

In English, we say:

I like it here. or I like it there. to mean: I like being or living in some place.

If you are in the place (city, town, area, region, country, etc.), you say: I like it here. If you are not, you say: I like it there.

This is basically idiomatic. The it stands for: living or being in a place.

Also, yes, in English, we say: I visited a place [city, town, region, country) and also say,for example, for that (tourism): I went to [some place] last year.

There is nothing wrong with saying "visit a place" (visit here or there) in English and again, there is no difference between AmE and BrE.

[the verb like has to be followed by an object (verb or object) unless it is being used with the function word to.]

I like being/living here. = I like it here. I like being/living there.= I like it there.

It replaces the implied being or living.

I like playing piano. I like it. Playing piano. If I say: "I like it here" that means: I like playing piano here. [in this place].

Visit cannot be followed by anything but a place or a noun that stands for it: I visit here [noun] every year. I visit there [noun] every year. I visit it [the city, noun] every year.

like can be followed by a verb = I like living or being here. being or living here or there can be replaced by just it but you must keep here or there, otherwise the meaning changes.

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  • Thank you. There is probably a difference between the American usage and the British usage though. Look at this one please: forum.wordreference.com/threads/… Also I didn't say the usages of "visit a place" are different. I said the usages of "visit there" were different.
    – Fire and Ice
    Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 19:08
  • Please edit your answer. I didn't say anything about "visit a place". I said "visit there".
    – Fire and Ice
    Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 19:17
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    @FireandIce Your link is just one random comment on some forum without any supporting evidence. I can't imagine why it's uncommon in all the many dialects of BrE to say "I visited there" as it's a perfectly ordinary sentence. It's possible they prefer a different verb like "traveled", or "went to", but that has nothing to do with "there".
    – Andrew
    Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 19:27
  • @Andrew Why can't we say "I like there/here" instead of "I like that place/this place" while we can say "I visit there/here" instead of "I visit that place/this place"? This is what I can't understand.
    – Fire and Ice
    Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 19:32
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    @FireandIce Also note that there is a huge difference between "less common" and "not used at all." I am very certain that "I visited there" is used by people in the UK, whatever its percentage of colloquial usage may or may not be.
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 20:10

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