A2 · Verbs with si
piacere and similar verbs
The coffee is the subject and you are the object.
At a glance
- Remember
- Not « I like » but « it pleases me ».
- Form
- mi piace il caffèI like coffee
- Signal words
- mi piace
- ti piacciono
- mi manca
- mi serve
- Trap
- Wrong:Io piaccio i gatti.Right:Mi piacciono i gatti.
Your turn
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The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Italian. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) stem (irregular) person ending auxiliary verb negation
| I like coffee | mi piace il caffè |
| I like cats | mi piacciono i gatti |
| do you like travelling? | ti piace viaggiare? |
| he does not like it | non gli piace |
| I liked the film | mi è piaciuto il film |
| I am homesick | mi manca casa |
| I please | (io) piaccio |
| you please | (tu) piaci |
| he / she / it pleases, you please (formal) | (lui / lei / Lei) piace |
| we please | (noi) piacciamo |
| you please (plural) | (voi) piacete |
| they please | (loro) piacciono |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The verb follows the thing, not the person.
Mi piacciono le tue scarpe.I like your shoes.
Before an infinitive it is always piace.
Ci piace camminare la sera.We like walking in the evening.
In the passato prossimo the auxiliary is essere.
Vi è piaciuta la mostra?Did you like the exhibition?
servire, mancare and bastare are built the same way.
Mi servono due biglietti.I need two tickets.
Example sentences
Ti piace la musica classica?Do you like classical music?
A Marco non piacciono i film lunghi.Marco does not like long films.
Mi è piaciuto molto il tuo racconto.I liked your story very much.
Ci manca solo il pane.We only need the bread now.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
« I like » has the person as subject and one form for everything, so both halves of this construction go wrong at once. Io piaccio il caffè says « I am pleasing to the coffee ». And the number is decided by the thing: mi piacciono i gatti, because there are several cats, however singular the person doing the liking may be.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Mi piace il caffè is literally « to me the coffee is pleasing ». The subject is the coffee and not the speaker, and the verb follows the coffee.
So there are really only two forms in use: piacebefore a singular and before an infinitivepiaccionobefore a plural Mi piacciono i gatti.
The person who does the liking stands in front as an indirect pronoun: mi, ti, gli, le, ci, vi, gli.
In the passato prossimo the auxiliary is essere and the participle agrees with the thing: mi è piaciuto il film, mi sono piaciute le foto.
Built the same way are servire (to need), mancare (to miss), bastare (to be enough), interessare, sembrare and fare male: Mi manca casa is « I am homesick », literally « home is missing to me ».
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The verbs on this page, in every form: piacere · essere · mancare · raccontare · camminare