Some expressions use a different sentence structure in Italian compared to that used in English to express the same meaning. One of the most common examples is the use of verbs like “piacere” (to please) in Italian.
Let us examine this sentence in Italian:
Mi piace la macchina.
This is often 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, “piace,” because “la macchina” is the subject that does the act of pleasing, and “mi” is the object. Thus, the conjugation of the verb “piacere” must agree with the subject “la macchina.”
Let us take another example. If you want to say that someone is interested in ancient cultures, the best way to say that is:
Gli interessano le culture antiche.
Here, we use the verb “interessare” (to interest), and the sentence is translated as:
“Ancient cultures interest him.”
Note that the verb is conjugated as “interessano” because “le culture antiche” is the subject, and “gli” is the object. Thus, the conjugation of the verb “interessare” must agree with the subject “le culture antiche.”
As you can see, we use the indirect object “gli” to express the meaning “to him,” that is, that the ancient cultures interest him. However, remember that “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:
“A Marco interessano le culture antiche,” or “A lui interessano le culture antiche.”
We translate that as:
“Ancient cultures interest Marco,” or “Ancient cultures interest him.”
Examples using “Piacere”
Below are more examples of expressions with the verb “piacere” using the prepositional “a” and prepositional object pronoun:
| English Example | Indirect Object Pronoun | Prep. Object Pronoun | Italian Equivalent |
| I like reading. | mi | me | A me piace leggere. |
| You like reading. (singular, informal) | ti | te | A te piace leggere. |
| He likes reading. | lui | lui | A lui piace leggere. |
| She likes reading. | lei | lei | A lei piace leggere. |
| You like reading. (singular, formal) | Lei | Lei | A Lei piace leggere. |
| We like reading. | noi | noi | A noi piace leggere. |
| You like reading. (plural, informal) | voi | voi | A voi piace leggere. |
| They like reading. | loro | loro | A loro piace leggere. |
| You like reading. (plural, formal) | Loro | Loro | A Loro piace leggere. |
Note again how the verb “piacere” does not change conjugation in the examples above because “leggere” (reading) is singular; thus, it takes the second-person conjugation “piace.”
Examples of Other Verbs
Here is a list of verbs like “piacere” that are common in Italian:
| Verb | Meaning | Example | |
| annoiare | to bore | Mi annoiano i videogiochi. | Video games are boring to me. |
| bastare | to be enough | Il cibo gli basta. | The food is enough for him. |
| disgustare | to disgust | Mi disgusta il tuo comportamento. | Your behavior disgusts me. |
| fare male | to be painful | Le fa male la schiena. | She has back pain. |
| importare | to be important | Non ci importa. | We don’t care. |
| interessare | to interest | Non mi interessa l’argomento. | I am not interested in the topic. |
| mancare | to miss | Mi manca mia sorella. | I miss my sister. |
| occorrere | to be necessary to take | Mi occorrono tre giorni per finire. | It takes me three days to finish. |
| parere | to seem | L’idea mi pare ragionevole. | The idea seems reasonable to me. |
| restare | to be left | Ci resta tempo prima del viaggio? | Do we have time left before the trip? |
| rimanere | to remain or be left with | Gli rimane solo un’opzione. | He is left with only one option. |
| sembrare | to seem | Questo ragazzo mi sembra strano. | This guy seems strange to me. |
| servire | to need or be of use | Mi serve un altro libro. | I need one more book. |
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