Comparative Grammar 3.1. Verbs like “Gustar” in Spanish & “Piacere” in Italian

In this comparative grammar lesson of Spanish and Italian, we study verbs like “gustar” in Spanish and “piacere” in Italian. Some expressions use a different sentence structure in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French, compared to that used in English to express the same meaning. One of the most common examples is the use of verbs like “gustar” in Spanish and “piacere” in Italian, both meaning “to please.”

Table of Contents

• “Me gusta” in Spanish & “Mi piace” in Italian
• The Verbs “Gustar” and “Piacere” with prepositional “a” &prepositional object pronoun
• Verbs similar to “Gustar” in Spanish & “Piacere” in Italian
• Level III – Elementary

“Me gusta” in Spanish & “Mi piace” in Italian

Let us examine this sentence in Spanish and Italian:

Both sentences above are translated as: “I like the car.”

A more accurate and literal translation would be:

“The car is pleasing to me.”

Note that the verb conjugation is in the third-person singular form, “gusta” or “piace,” because “el auto” or “la macchina” is the subject that does the act of pleasing, and “me” or “mi” is the object. Thus, the conjugation of the verb must agree with the subject.

Let us take another example. If you want to say that someone is interested in ancient cultures, the best way to say that is:

Here, we use the verb “interesar” in Spanish or “interessare” in Italian, and the sentence is translated as:

“Ancient cultures interest him.”

Note that the verb is conjugated as “interesan” in Spanish or “interessano” in Italian because “ancient cultures” is the subject, and “le” in Spanish or “gli” in Italian is the object. Thus, the conjugation of the verb must agree with the subject.

As you can see, we use the indirect object “le” in Spanish or “gli” in Italian to express the meaning “to him,” that is, that the ancient cultures interest him. However, remember that “le” and “gli” can also mean “to him” or “to them.” To remove ambiguity and sometimes to show emphasis, we can use the prepositional “a” followed by the object or the prepositional object pronoun:

This is translated as:

“Ancient cultures interest Marco,” or “Ancient cultures interest him.”

Notice that indirect object “le” is used in Spanish after the prepositional “a” followed by the object or the prepositional object pronoun, whereas the indirect object is omitted in Italian.

The Verbs “Gustar” and “Piacere” with prepositional “a” &prepositional object pronoun

Below are more examples of expressions with the verbs “gustar” and “piacere” using the prepositional “a” and prepositional object pronoun:

Note again how the verbs “gustar” and “piacere” do not change conjugation in the examples above because the subject “leer” or “leggere” (reading) is singular; thus, the verb takes the third-person singular conjugation.

Verbs similar to “Gustar” in Spanish & “Piacere” in Italian

Here is a list of similar verbs in Spanish and Italian:

Next: Present Perfect Tense

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