The sentence provided is: "She loves to play the piano in her free time." The underlined word is "loves." To determine the part of speech, we need to analyze its role in the sentence.
In English, a verb is a word that describes an action, occurrence, or state of being. The word "loves" describes the action performed by the subject "She." It indicates what the subject is doing.
A noun refers to a person, place, thing, or idea. An adjective modifies a noun by providing additional information about it, such as a characteristic or quality. An adverb modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverbs, often indicating manner, time, or degree.
In this context, "loves" clearly describes an action performed by the subject "She," thereby functioning as a verb. Therefore, the part of speech for the underlined word "loves" is Verb.