Example sentences
nǐ你xǐ喜huān欢zhè这gè个ma吗？
Do you like this?
wǒ我bù不xǐ喜huān欢。
I don't like it.
About this word
喜 and 欢 both mean joy or delight: 喜 is the feeling of being pleased, 欢 is rejoicing. Two joy-words stacked make a verb, "to take delight in". The grammar note is that 喜欢 takes either a noun or another verb: 我喜欢中国菜, 我喜欢看书. English uses a gerund in the second case, Chinese uses the bare verb. You can grade it with 很 or 非常 (我很喜欢). The second syllable is neutral, xǐhuan, unlike the full huān in 欢迎 (welcome).
The story behind the character
喜
壴 (a drum) on top, 口 (singing) below. Beat the drum and sing. That's joy. Xu Shen wrote 喜, 乐也. With drum and song, it's a celebration.
欢
欢 is 又 on the left and 欠 on the right. 欠 is the part worth knowing: it draws a person with an open mouth, breathing out hard, the same piece you find in 歌 and 吹. The older form 歡 used 雚 for the sound. Xu Shen defined it as 喜樂也, joy. Picture somebody too pleased to shut their mouth.