{"id":16328,"date":"2018-05-21T21:07:03","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T19:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=16328"},"modified":"2018-05-21T21:07:03","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T19:07:03","slug":"mi-piace-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/mi-piace-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Mi Piace! – Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost a month ago I set out to write a ‘simple’ blog about how to use the verb piacere<\/strong> to say ‘I like …’. It seems to have turned into a work of epic proportions!<\/span><\/p>\n

But a part 4 there must be dear readers, because we still haven’t covered a rather tricky, but very important conjugation: the conditional.<\/p>\n

N.B. before you read this article you’ll need to have studied the following:<\/em>
\nItalian Indirect Personal Pronouns<\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\n Mi Piace! \u2013 Part 1.<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\n Mi Piace! \u2013 Part 2.<\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\nMi Piace! \u2013 Part 3.<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

1. The present conditional – I would like<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s begin by looking at the verb piacere<\/strong> in the conditional tense:
\nio piacerei<\/strong> = I would please
\ntu piaceresti<\/strong> = you would please
\nlui\/lei piacerebbe<\/strong> = he\/she\/it would please
\nnoi piaceremmo<\/strong> = we would please
\nvoi piacereste<\/strong> = you (plural) would please
\nloro piacerebbero<\/strong> = they would please<\/p>\n

Of the above, the conjugations that you’ll use most frequently are the third person singular piacerebbe<\/strong>, and the third person plural piacerebbero<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The next step is to apply the rule that “in Italian it\u2019s not the person that does the liking, but the thing that pleases the person”.
\nHere are some examples. As in my previous articles, I’ll begin with the English phrase in order to reinforce the transition from ‘liking’ something to ‘being pleased by’ something.<\/p>\n

singular
\n‘I would like to go to Lucca’ from an Italian perspective would be: It would please me to go to Lucca, hence: Mi piacerebbe andare a Lucca<\/strong>
\n‘I would like his brother if he were less bossy’ would be: His brother would please me if he were less bossy, hence: Mi piacerebbe suo fratello se fosse meno prepotente<\/strong>
\n‘I would like to see that film’ would be: It would please me to see that film, hence: Mi piacerebbe vedere quel film<\/strong>
\n‘I would like a slice of cake’ would be: A slice of cake would please me, hence: Mi piacerebbe una fetta di torta<\/strong><\/p>\n

plural
\n‘If I had the money I’d like those shoes’ would be: If I had the money those shoes would please me, hence: Se avessi i soldi quelle scarpe mi piacerebbero<\/strong>
\n‘I’d like more pets’ would be: More pets would please me, hence: Mi piacerebbero pi\u00f9 animali domestici<\/strong>
\nHowever, it’s more common to use the singular (piacerebbe<\/strong>) followed by an infinitive<\/span> as in English:<\/em>
\n‘If I had the money I’d like to buy those shoes’ would be: If I had the money it would please me to buy<\/span> those shoes, hence: Se avessi i soldi mi piacerebbe comprare quelle scarpe<\/strong>
\n‘I’d like to have more pets’ would be: It would please me to have<\/span> more pets, hence: Mi piacerebbe avere pi\u00f9 animali domestici<\/strong><\/p>\n

2.The past conditional – I would have liked<\/span><\/p>\n

We construct the past conditional with the verb essere<\/strong> followed by the past participle of piacere<\/strong>, i.e. piaciuto\/a\/i\/e<\/strong> depending on number and gender.
\nLet’s take a look at the conditional tense of essere<\/strong>:
\nio sarei<\/strong> = I would be
\ntu saresti<\/strong> = you would be
\nlui\/lei sarebbe<\/strong> = he\/she\/it would be
\nnoi saremmo<\/strong> = we would be
\nvoi sareste<\/strong> = you (plural) would be
\nloro sarebbero<\/strong> = they would be<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“Mi sarebbe piaciuto mangiare una mela … ma Mr. Black ha deciso di fare un riposino sulle mie spalle!”<\/strong><\/em> Photo by Serena<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Now for some examples:
\nsingular
\n‘I would have liked to have gone to Lucca’ from an Italian perspective would be: It would have pleased me to have gone to Lucca, hence: mi sarebbe piaciuto andare a Lucca<\/strong> (n.b. the more literal translation of ‘to have gone to Lucca’ = essere andato a Lucca<\/strong> would not be used in this case as it sounds clumsy)
\n‘I would have liked his brother if he had been less bossy’ would be: His brother would have pleased me if he had been less bossy, hence: Mi sarebbe piaciuto suo fratello se fosse stato meno prepotente<\/strong>
\n‘I would have liked to see that film’ would be: It would have pleased me to see that film, hence: Mi sarebbe piaciuto vedere quel film<\/strong>
\n‘I would have liked a slice of cake’ would be: A slice of cake would have pleased me, hence: Mi sarebbe piaciuta una fetta di torta<\/strong><\/p>\n

plural
\n‘If I had had the money I would have liked those shoes’ would be: If I had had the money those shoes would have pleased me, hence: Se avessi avuto i soldi quelle scarpe mi sarebbero piaciute<\/strong>
\n‘I would have liked more pets’ would be: More pets would have pleased me, hence: Mi sarebbero piaciuti pi\u00f9 animali domestici<\/strong>
\nHowever, it’s more common to use the singular (sarebbe piaciuto<\/strong>) followed by an infinitive<\/span> as in English:<\/em>
\nSe avessi avuto i soldi mi sarebbe piaciuto comprare<\/span> quelle scarpe<\/strong>
\nMi sarebbe piaciuto avere<\/span> pi\u00f9 animali domestici<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. She would like me!<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, here are those tricky conjugations from Part 2<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.<\/span> and Part 3.<\/span><\/strong><\/a> in the past conditional tense:<\/p>\n

‘They told me that she would have liked me’ from an Italian perspective would be: ‘They told me that I would have pleased her’, hence: ‘Mi hanno detto che le sarei piaciuto\/a<\/strong>‘
\n‘They said that they would have liked us’ would be: ‘They said that we would have pleased them’, hence: ‘Hanno detto che gli saremmo piaciuti’<\/strong>
\n‘I know that he would have liked you’ would be: ‘I know that you would have pleased him’, hence: ‘So che gli saresti piaciuto\/a<\/strong>‘<\/p>\n

Coming soon, an exercise based on the use of piacere<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Almost a month ago I set out to write a ‘simple’ blog about how to use the verb piacere to say ‘I like …’. It seems to have turned into a work of epic proportions! But a part 4 there must be dear readers, because we still haven’t covered a rather tricky, but very important…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":16333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[474378,474379],"class_list":["post-16328","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-i-would-have-liked-in-italian","tag-using-the-verb-piacere"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t