Piacere and Similar Verbs

The verb piacere (to be pleasing / to like) is one of the trickiest verbs for English speakers learning Italian. This is because the sentence structure is essentially reversed compared to English. Instead of "I like pizza", Italian says "Pizza is pleasing to me" (La pizza mi piace).

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How Piacere Works

In English: Subject (the person who likes) + likes + object (the thing liked)

• I like pizza.

In Italian: Indirect object (the person who likes) + piace/piacciono + subject (the thing liked)

• Mi piace la pizza. (Literally: Pizza is pleasing to me.)

The verb piacere agrees with the thing that is liked (the grammatical subject), NOT with the person who likes it.

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Piace vs Piacciono

You mainly need two forms:

Form	When to Use	Example
piace	The liked thing is singular or an infinitive	Mi piace il gelato. / Mi piace leggere.
piacciono	The liked things are plural	Mi piacciono i gatti.

Tip: The full conjugation of piacere exists (piaccio, piaci, piace, piacciamo, piacete, piacciono), but in practice you will almost always use just piace and piacciono.

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Indirect Object Pronouns with Piacere

The person who likes uses an indirect object pronoun:

Person	Indirect Object Pronoun	Example	Translation
I	mi	Mi piace il caffè.	I like coffee.
you (informal)	ti	Ti piace Roma?	Do you like Rome?
he/she/you (formal)	gli / le / Le	Gli piace nuotare. / Le piace Roma.	He likes swimming. / She likes Rome.
we	ci	Ci piacciono i film italiani.	We like Italian films.
you all	vi	Vi piace la musica?	Do you all like the music?
they	gli (or a loro)	Gli piacciono le vacanze.	They like holidays.

Note: In modern Italian, gli is used for both "to him" and "to them". To be more formal or clear, you can use a loro for "to them": A loro piacciono le vacanze.

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Clarifying with A + Name / Stressed Pronoun

Because gli, le, and gli can be ambiguous, you often add a + name or a + stressed pronoun for clarity or emphasis:

Italian	English
A Marco piace la musica.	Marco likes music.
A Maria piacciono i dolci.	Maria likes sweets.
A me piace il tennis, a te piace il calcio.	I like tennis, you like football.
A noi piace viaggiare.	We like travelling.
A loro non piace cucinare.	They don't like cooking.

The structure is: A + person + indirect object pronoun + piace/piacciono + thing liked.

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Piace with Infinitives

When you like doing something, use piace (singular) + infinitive:

Italian	English
Mi piace leggere.	I like reading / to read.
Ti piace cucinare?	Do you like cooking?
Ci piace viaggiare.	We like travelling.
Non gli piace studiare.	He doesn't like studying.

Even if the infinitive is followed by a plural object, the verb stays as piace:

• Mi piace mangiare i dolci. (I like eating sweets.) — NOT Mi piacciono mangiare i dolci.

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Negative Sentences with Piacere

Place non before the indirect object pronoun:

Italian	English
Non mi piace il pesce.	I don't like fish.
Non ci piacciono i ragni.	We don't like spiders.
Non ti piace ballare?	Don't you like dancing?

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Full Examples — Putting It All Together