Answers
Jun 29, 2014 - 02:43 PM
If you are speaking about a person, then yes aimer would be used to express love. In that situation if you trying to say that you "like" someone then you certainly want to say j'aime bien to avoid giving the wrong impression. When it comes to things, not a person, then you can use aimer with or without bien. If I wanted to say I love red wine I would say j'adore le vin rouge. In a nutshell aimer translates to like unless you are speaking of a person. I can also say that Fluenz is teaching what is technically correct, "aimer bien"but they are also mixing in more how it's commonly used, "j'aime le vin rouge" which is good because at least with my French pen pals, I can't recall any of them using "bien" in those situations. I hope that helps.
Jun 29, 2014 - 06:32 PM
Mike W is totally right. I will add that a common use of "J'aime bien" is when you want to lower how you like something in respect to something else. For example: "J'aime bien le vin rouge mais je prefere le vin blanc". When using "J'aime bien" on a person, that also lowers how you like that person. For example "J'aime bien Pascal, mais il est un peu ennuyeux" (I like Pascal but he's a bit boring).
Jun 29, 2014 - 08:24 PM
Thank you!