Italian verb piacere and a bunch of pronouns – PODCAST

“Mipiace”iswhatyoucanreadontheItalianfacebook”like”button,butitdoesn’ttranslateintoastraight”Ilikeit”.LearntheItalianverbpiacere andothersimilarverbs.Listentothepodcast.

  Mipiace,isoneofthefirstthingsyoulearninItalian.Andasithappensveryoften,whenyoustarttolearnaforeignlanguage,youjustmemorizesentencesbefore gettingintodetailsandstructures.Nowit’stimetohaveasecondlook.Let’sthinkaboutthissimplesentence:

  • Mipiaceilgelato=(Ilgelatopiaceame)

NativeEnglishspeakerstranslateitinto”Ilikeice-cream”,andthemeaningisjustright.Butifyoureaditcarefully,theItaliansentenceisactually”ice-creamispleasingtome”,whereGelato isinfactthesubject,andnot Mi,whichinsteadisanindirectpronoun.

  • ThestructureinEnglishis”AlikesB”
  • ThestructureinItalianis”ToA,Bispleasing”

…where”toA” isanindirectpronounand”B”istherealsubject. Difficult?No,justdifferent.Let’sfirstdefinealltheItalianindirectpronouns:

  • tome->ame ->MI
  • toyou ->ate ->TI
  • tohim ->alui ->GLI
  • toher ->alei ->LE
  • tous ->anoi ->CI
  • toyou ->avoi ->VI
  • tothem ->aloro ->GLI
InItalian,conjugationschangewiththesubject.ItbecomesmoreclearthatBistherealsubjectwithpluralnouns.SoifIsay”Ilikespaghetti”, piacere changesbecausethesubjectspaghetti(loro-they)isplural:

  • Mipiaccionogli spaghetti=(glispaghettipiaccionoame)

WeusetheItalianverbpiacere verymuchincombinationwithinfinitiveverbs,whenwelikeanaction, exactly as youdoinEnglishwiththegerund.Ifiwanttosay “Ilikeswimming“inItalian…

  • Mipiace nuotare

Swimmingispleasingtome.IfIwanttosaythatswimming”ispleasingtoyou”Igo”tipiacenuotare”,ispleasingtohim”glipiacenuotare”,ispleasingtous,”cipiacenuotare”andsoon.Ifyouthoughtthatthelatterperhapsshouldbe”cipiacciononuotare”or”cipiacciamonuotare”(I’mprettysureyouhaveconsideredthoseoptions…)becausenoi-us isplural,gobacktothebeginningofthispostandreaditagain…

Therearesomeotherimportantverbshavingthesamestructureofpiacere,notably:

interessare (tobeofinterest,tocareof), servire (toneed),sembrare (toseem),succedere (tohappen).Let’sseesomeexamplesandlistentothepodcast:

  • interessare (tobe ofinterest,tocareof)
Miinteressamoltol’arte
I’mveryinterestedinarts Nonmiinteressanoituoiproblemi
I’mnotinterestedinyourtrouble

  • servire (toneed)
Miserveiltuoaiuto
Ineedyourhelp

Perleggere,miservonoimieiocchiali
Ineedmyglassesforreading

  • sembrare (toseem,tolooklike)
Claudiomisembraunpo’distratto
ItseemstomethatClaudioisabitabsent

Ituoicapellimisembranotroppocorti
Youhairlookstooshort

  • succedere (tohappen)
Mi succedespessodiperdereiltreno
Ihappenquiteoftentomissthetrain

Ultimamentetisuccedonounsaccodiguai
You’vebeeninalotoftroublelately

 

Alastnoteimportantnote.IfweusetheverbANDAREinthesamewayweusePIACERE,wecanbuildsimple andhandysentencesforsayingthat”I’minthemoodfor…”Forexample:

 
Mivadiandarealcinema
Mivaunbelgelato
Tivadivenireconme?
Nonmivannoletuebugie

 

Sometimesit’srathercomplicatedtotranslatedaccuratelysentenceswiththeItalianverbpiacere &co.JusttrytousethemdirectlyinItalian,keepinginmindwhatyoureadabove.Thanksforreading.Allaprossima!

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Riccardo
Milanese, graduated in Italian literature a long time ago, I began teaching Italian online in Japan back in 2003. I usually spend winter in Tokyo and go back to Italy when the cherry blossoms shed their petals. I do not use social media.

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Anne A.
Anne A.
7 years ago

Molto utile. Il verbo “mancare” funziona nello stesso modo, vero?

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Riccardo
Riccardo
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Reply to  Anne A.
7 years ago

Ciao Anne, sì esatto. Brava.

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