{"id":67,"date":"2009-01-03T15:33:23","date_gmt":"2009-01-03T19:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=67"},"modified":"2009-01-03T15:33:23","modified_gmt":"2009-01-03T19:33:23","slug":"a-different-point-of-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/a-different-point-of-view\/","title":{"rendered":"A different point of view!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mi piace l\u2019italiano<\/strong>. The preceding sentence is a good example of the confusing difference between English and Italian when we talk about what we like. Literally translated as \u201cItalian pleases me\u201d what it actually means is \u201cI like Italian\u201d. Whereas in English the action of liking moves from the person to the object, in Italian it moves from the object to the person. Not surprisingly English speakers find this a difficult concept to grasp as the point of view is reversed. It\u2019s important to understand that the verb piacere<\/strong> literally means \u201cto please\u201d (\u201cto please\u201d in English comes from the French \u201cplaisir\u201d which in turns comes from the Latin \u201cplacere\u201d = Italian \u201cpiacere\u201d). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The verb piacere <\/strong><\/em>is only used in two basic forms: piace<\/strong> (lit. it pleases) if you like one thing, and piacciono<\/strong> (lit. they please) if you like several things. For example: mi piace l\u2019arte<\/strong> translates literally as \u201cart pleases me\u201d meaning in English \u201cI like art\u201d; mi piacciono le mostre<\/strong> is literally \u201cexhibitions please me\u201d meaning \u201cI like exhibitions\u201d. Let\u2019s have a look at the present tense: <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mi piace il vino<\/strong> = I like wine<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ti piace il vino<\/strong> = you (informal) like wine<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Le piace il vino<\/strong> = you (formal) like wine<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Gli\/le piace il vino<\/strong> = he\/she likes wine<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ci piace il vino<\/strong> = we like wine<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Vi piace il vino<\/strong> = you like wine<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Gli piace il vino<\/strong> = they like wine<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Or:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mi piacciono gli spaghetti <\/strong>= I like spaghetti<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ti piacciono gli spaghetti <\/strong>= you (informal) like spaghetti<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Le piacciono gli spaghetti <\/strong>= you (formal) like spaghetti<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Gli\/le piacciono gli spaghetti<\/strong> = he\/she likes spaghetti<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ci piacciono gli spaghetti<\/strong> = we like spaghetti<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Vi piacciono gli spaghetti<\/strong> = you like spaghetti<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Gli piacciono gli spaghetti <\/strong>= they like spaghetti<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Note that the person \u201cwho likes\u201d is expressed by the indirect pronoun (dative pronoun): mi<\/strong>, ti<\/strong>, gli<\/strong>, le<\/strong>, ci<\/strong>, vi<\/strong>, gli<\/strong>. However in certain cases piacere<\/em> is used with a<\/strong> plus the stressed pronouns me<\/strong>, te<\/strong>, lui<\/strong>, lei<\/strong>, noi<\/strong>, voi<\/strong>, loro<\/strong>. Stressed pronouns are more emphatic than indirect pronouns, so we use this construction in a comparison or a contrast: e.g. a me piace il caff\u00e8, ma a lui piace il t\u00e8<\/strong> (I like coffee, but he likes tea); a me piace il mare, e a te?<\/strong> (I like the sea, how about you?). This type of construction is also used after anche<\/strong> (also) when we agree that we like something: a me piacciono gli spaghetti al pesto. Anche a me! <\/strong>(I like spaghetti with pesto. Me too!). Anche a te piace il vino rosso?<\/strong> (Do you like red wine too?). Using the two constructions together \u2013 a me mi piace \u2013 <\/strong>is incorrect, <\/strong>but it\u2019s often used by children, who desperately want everybody to know what they like e.g. \u201ca me mi piace il gelato!\u201d<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

The preposition a<\/strong> is also needed with a person\u2019s name or a noun: e.g. a Stefano piace il tennis<\/strong> (Stefano likes tennis); a mia figlia piace la musica<\/strong> (my daughter likes music). <\/span><\/p>\n

To finish off, a note on the use of piacere<\/em> with the passato prossimo<\/strong> (present perfect). The passato prossimo<\/em> of piacere<\/em> is built with the present of the verb essere <\/strong>plus the past participle of piacere<\/em>: piaciuto, piaciuta, piaciuti, piaciute<\/strong>. As we have seen, the action of piacere<\/em> moves from the object to the person, so the past participle must agree in gender and number with the objects(s), not the person \u201cwho likes\u201d: e.g. a Mario \u00e8 piaciuta la torta di mele<\/strong> (lit: \u201cthe apple cake pleased Mario\u201d, meaning \u201cMario liked the apple cake\u201d); a Giovanna \u00e8 piaciuto il libro<\/strong> (lit: \u201cthe book pleased Giovanna\u201d, meaning \u201cGiovanna liked the book\u201d); mi sono piaciuti i fiori<\/strong> (lit: \u201cthe flowers pleased me\u201d, meaning \u201cI liked the flowers\u201d); mi sono piaciute le tue poesie<\/strong> (lit: \u201cyour poems pleased me\u201d, meaning \u201cI liked your poems\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\n

As the title says \u2018It\u2019s all about a different point of view\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you would like to comment on this blog click on \u201ccomments\u201d<\/span> <\/strong>below.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mi piace l\u2019italiano. The preceding sentence is a good example of the confusing difference between English and Italian when we talk about what we like. Literally translated as \u201cItalian pleases me\u201d what it actually means is \u201cI like Italian\u201d. Whereas in English the action of liking moves from the person to the object, in Italian…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}