Italian All-in-One For Dummies (154 page)

When you're talking about two or more things that you like, you use
piacciono.
Here are a couple of examples:

Mi piacciono i gatti.
(
I like cats.
)

Gli piacciono gli sport.
(
He likes sports.
)

Notice that the second
gli
is an article, not an indirect object pronoun. In Italian, you use the article before the thing that is liked.

Use
non piacere
to express dislikes, as in
Non gli piacciono i balli moderni
(
He/She doesn't like modern dances
) and
Perché non ti piace la cioccolata?
(
How come you don't like chocolate?
). Note that
dispiacere
means
to be sorry, to mind
:
Mi dispiace sapere che parti
(
I am sorry to learn that you are leaving
);
Ti dispiace
(the conditional
ti dispiacerebbe
is even more polite)
passarmi del pane?
(
Would you mind passing some bread?
).

Combining piacere with indirect object pronouns

How do
piacere
and indirect object pronouns combine to tell who likes something? You or someone likes one thing (
piace
) or more than one thing (
piacciono
); the indirect object pronoun specifies who does the liking, and it always appears at the start of the sentence.
Table 4-2
shows how to use
piace/piacciono
with the indirect object pronouns. When combined with the indirect object pronouns,
piacere
's meaning becomes
to like
.

Table 4-2 Piacere and Indirect Object Pronouns

Most of the time, people use only the third person singular and plural forms of
piacere.
However, occasionally, you'll hear someone say
le piaccio
(
she likes me
) (Literally:
I am pleasing to her
);
so che
piaccio di più con i capelli corti
(Literally:
I please to them more when I have short hair
). If someone says to you
mi piaci,
he or she is saying
I like you
(Literally:
You are pleasing to me
). Keep in mind that you're building sentences backward (placing the indirect object
before
the subject).

Another oddity, if you will, about using
piacere
is that you don't have to state the Italian subject or what in English would be the direct object if you can infer it from the context. Here are some examples:

I bambini? Sì, mi piacciono.
(
Children? Yes, I like [them].
)
Them
is understood, though not expressed in Italian.

Ti piace viaggiare? Sì, mi piace.
(
Do you like to travel? Yes, I like [it].
)

Le piace cucinare?
No, non le piace.
(
Does she like to cook? No, she doesn't like [it].
)

Finally, what if you want to say that a specific person, such as Rodolfo, likes something? That is, you specifically want to name whoever is doing the liking. Simply keep in mind that
piace/piacciono
means
is/are pleasing,
and you need to indicate that something is pleasing
to
someone. Adding the preposition
a
before a person or a pronoun gives you that
to;
this construction replaces the indirect object pronoun (refer to
Table 4-2
). For example:

A Rodolfo piace scrivere/gli piace scrivere.
(
Rodolfo likes to write.
) (Literally:
Writing is pleasing to Rodolfo/to him.
)

A Laura piacciono i fiori/le piacciono i fiori.
(
Laura likes flowers.
) (Literally:
Flowers are pleasing to Laura/to her.
)

If you're using pronouns that are a little more emphatic, you may say
A lui piacciono i fiori
rather than
Gli piacciono i fiori
(
He likes flowers
). Some of the subject pronouns change form when preceded by a preposition, such as the following:

Never use both the regular indirect object pronouns and the form that follows
a
together (such as
a me mi piace
).

Using piacere as a noun

Piacere
does double linguistic duty. It isn't just a verb (although that would be noteworthy enough); it's also a noun. You use it as a noun most frequently when you meet someone. Upon being introduced, you say
Piacere
(
It's a pleasure
). The person you've just met may respond with
Il piacere è tutto mio
(
The pleasure is all mine
).

At its most basic, the noun
piacere
means
a pleasure.
You can make something into a great pleasure by adding the suffix
-one.
Un piacerone
refers to something that is
un vero piacere
(
a true pleasure
).

Expressing Likes (And Dislikes) in Any Tense

You can conjugate all verbs in all indicative and subjunctive moods across the tenses.
Piacere
and
dispiacere
are no exception. Did you notice the verb
dispiacere
(
to dislike; to displease; to hate; to be sorry; to mind
)? To express these feelings in Italian, simply add the prefix
dis-
before
piacere,
as you do in English with
like
and
dislike.
For example:
Se non vi piacciono/se odiate/se vi dispiacciono le regole di grammatica complicate, il verbo dispiacere è perfetto per voi!
(
If you dislike/displease/hate complicated grammar rules, the verb to dislike is perfect for you!
) The present indicative tense, the present subjunctive mood, and the past absolute tense are irregular, but
piacere
and
dispiacere
turn regular for all other conjugated forms. Check out these conjugations in the following sections.

Dispiacere
can also mean
to be sorry
. You bump into someone and say
Mi dispiace
(
I'm sorry
). You lose your passport, and a friend says
Mi dispiace tanto
(
I'm so sorry
).

Conjugating piacere and dispiacere in the subjunctive and past absolute

The earlier section “
Conjugating
piacere
in the present tense
” provides the present indicative tense conjugation of
piacere.
This section shows you how to conjugate
piacere
and
dispiacere
in the present subjunctive and the past absolute; these conjugations are irregular. (In other tenses and in the conditional mood,
piacere
and
dispiacere
follow regular rules of conjugation; for details, see the later section “
Checking out more conjugations for piacere and dispiacere
.”)

Subjunctive

The subjunctive mood (see
Chapter 6
in Book IV) lets you express possibility, doubt, fear, emotions; it's ultimately subjective.