Piacere · Italian grammar A1

Contents · A1

“To like” is usually expressed with piacere (literally “to please”). The construction is the reverse of the English one: the thing liked is the subject of the verb, and the person who likes it is an indirect object. Mi piace molto il mare is built like “the sea pleases me very much”.

To like: mi piace, mi piacciono#

Formation

Piacere agrees with what is liked, which is its subject. When the subject is a singular noun or an infinitive, the verb is in the third person singular, piace; when it is a plural noun, the verb is in the third person plural, piacciono. The person who likes is expressed by a pronoun placed before the verb: mi (to me), ti (to you, familiar), gli (to him), le (to her), Le (to you, polite), or by a followed by a noun or a stressed pronoun: a Paolo, a me.

What is liked	Form	Example
a singular noun	piace	A Sara piace il gelato.
an infinitive	piace	Mi piace nuotare.
a plural noun	piacciono	Mi piacciono molto le mele.

Use

The noun after piacere takes the definite article, even where English has none: Ti piace la musica italiana? (“Do you like Italian music?”). In the negative, non is placed before the pronoun: Non mi piace il latte. A question needs no auxiliary like do: the statement is simply said with a rising voice. To stress the person, or to contrast two people, a and the stressed pronoun are used, usually at the start of the sentence: A me piace il mare, a lei piace la città. “Me too” is anche a me, “me neither” neanche a me.

Mi piace la cucina italiana.I like Italian food.
Ti piacciono i film americani?Do you like American films?
A Giulia piace ballare.Giulia likes dancing.
Gli piacciono le macchine.He likes cars.
Signora, Le piace il tè?Do you like tea, madam?
Non mi piace ballare. — Neanche a me.I don’t like dancing. — Neither do I.

Difference from English

In English the person who likes is the subject (“I like”); with piacere the person is the indirect object, and the thing liked is the subject. The verb therefore agrees with the thing, not with the person: “I like apples” is mi piacciono le mele, with a plural verb, and “we like the sea” is still ci piace il mare, with a singular one. It helps to read every sentence as “… pleases me”: “apples please me”, “the sea pleases us”. English “I like” has no word for I in Italian: the subject pronoun io never appears with piacere in this sense. “Me too” after a sentence with piacere is anche a me, not anche io, because the person is introduced by a: “to me too”. English also uses “like” with a gerund (“I like swimming”); Italian uses the infinitive, with piace in the singular: Mi piace nuotare. A me mi piace, with the person said twice, is heard in speech but avoided in writing: one of the two is enough.

Common mistakes

~~Io piace la musica italiana.~~ → Mi piace la musica italiana.The person who likes is an indirect object: mi, not io.
~~Mi piace i cani.~~ → Mi piacciono i cani.With a plural noun, the verb is plural.
~~Mi piacciono guardare i film.~~ → Mi piace guardare i film.With an infinitive, the verb is singular, even when the object of the infinitive is plural.
~~Piaccio il caffè.~~ → Mi piace il caffè.Piaccio means “I please” (piaccio a Marco, “Marco likes me”); the verb agrees with il caffè.
~~A mi piace.~~ → A me piace.After a, the pronoun takes its stressed form, me.
~~Mi piace. — Anche io.~~ → Mi piace. — Anche a me.After piacere, “me too” keeps the a.

Practise

“Piacere: mi piace, mi piacciono”, I like, you like: mi piace, ti piace “Piacere: mi piace, mi piacciono”, With a plural noun: mi piacciono “Piacere: mi piace, mi piacciono”, With an infinitive: mi piace dormire

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Object pronouns: mi, ti, gli, le#

Formation

The unstressed object pronouns are placed before the conjugated verb, and after non. At A1 they are used mainly with piacere: mi (to me), ti (to you), gli (to him), le (to her), Le (to you, polite). Gli replaces a lui or a + a man’s name, le replaces a lei or a + a woman’s name. Lo (“it”) appears in the phrases lo so (“I know”) and non lo so (“I don’t know”).

Use

The unstressed pronoun is used when the person is not stressed: Gli piace il calcio. To stress or contrast, the stressed form preceded by a is used: A lui piace il calcio, a me no. “I don’t know” is usually non lo so, with lo, like English “I don’t know it”, although English leaves the pronoun out.

A Marco? Gli piace la musica.Marco? He likes music.
A Chiara? Le piacciono i fiori.Chiara? She likes flowers.
Dov'è la stazione? — Mi dispiace, non lo so.Where is the station? — Sorry, I don’t know.

Difference from English

English “he” and “she” become “him” and “her” as objects; Italian has a separate set of short pronouns placed before the verb. “He likes” and “she likes” are not translated with lui and lei, the subject pronouns, but with gli piace and le piace. Le is three words for an English speaker to keep apart: “to her”, the polite “to you” (written Le when the politeness is shown), and the feminine plural article “the” (le mele). The pronoun comes before the verb, never after it as in English: “she likes it” is le piace.

Common mistakes

~~Lui piace il calcio.~~ → Gli piace il calcio.For “he likes”, the pronoun before the verb is gli.
~~Lei piace il tennis.~~ → Le piace il tennis.For “she likes”, the pronoun is le, not the subject pronoun lei.

In short

To say	Form	Example
I like + singular noun	mi piace	Mi piace molto il mare.
I like + plural noun	mi piacciono	Mi piacciono molto le mele.
I like + -ing	mi piace + infinitive	Mi piace leggere.
he likes, she likes	gli piace, le piace	Le piace molto il tè verde.
you like (polite)	Le piace	Le piace Roma?
stress	a me, a te, a lui, a lei	A me piace.
me too, me neither	anche a me, neanche a me	Anche a me!

Practise

“Piacere: mi piace, mi piacciono”, I like, you like: mi piace, ti piace “Piacere: mi piace, mi piacciono”, He, she, polite you: gli piace, le piace, Le piace “Questions and the negative: non, chi, dove, quando”, Negation and answers: non, sì, no

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