saying you like something

Tony likes pizza.

In this sentence, the person doing the liking (Tony) is the subject. And the thing receiving the liking, what Tony likes (pizza) is the direct object.

Italian reverses these functions.

A Tony piace la pizza.

Literally translated, this sentence means, “Pizza is pleasing to Tony.”

Replacing Tony with a pronoun we get, “Gli piace la pizza.”

So in Italian, the thing you like (pizza) is the subject (not the direct object) and the person liking (Tony) is the indirect object (not the subject). The verb is piacere. Like all verbs, it must agree with the subject, in this case the thing doing the pleasing (i.e., in English terms, the thing liked).

When the thing liked is a verb, it stays in the infinitive (or dictionary form), just like in English. (I don’t like to sing. – Non mi piace cantare.)

Some more examples.

Mi piace il tuo telefonino.

Non ci piace ballare.

Vi piacciono i miei occhiali?

Tu mi piaci.

Full Conjugation of Irregular Verb Piacere – To Please

io piaccio

tu piaci

Lei piace

lui/lei piace

noi piacciamo

voi piacete

loro piacciono

Notice the c doubles in the io, noi and loro forms.

Tip: The easiest way to express liking something in Italian is to recast your English sentence using the verb “to be pleasing to”, then translate directly.

I like Luisa. = Luisa is pleasing to me. = Luisa mi piace. (Or “Mi piace Luisa,” a grammatically equivalent stylistic variant.)

Now you can tell people what you like in Italian! Ciao for now.

Comments

[zani_1]

"Tu mi piaci." - does this mean:
I like you. (You are pleasing to me.)?

OR

You like me.(I am pleasing to you.)?

[Pino]

zani_1, it means, "I like you," (or, "You are pleasing to me.")

[zani_1]

Thanks. I thought so based on your suggestion to restate the sentence with "to be pleasing to"

So how would you say "You like me."
"Tu piaci a me."

That doesn't sound right either!
??

[Pino]

"You like me" = "I am pleasing to you" = "Ti piaccio." Take care!

[zan1_1]

Grazie!

[Pino]

Non c'e' di che!