Piacere

• Piacere overview (to like)


  The verb piacere means to like and it is formed differently than most verbs. It literally means to be pleasing. Most often, the forms piace (+ singular nouns or an infinitive) and piacciono (+ plural nouns) are used in the presente indicativo. They are usually preceded by an indirect object pronoun (mi, ti, gli, le, ci, vi, gli).
• Piacere chart


  yay

  
• Adding "a"


  The preposition a precedes the pronouns me, te, lui, lei, noi, voi, or loro + piace / piacciono when more emphasis is needed.

  A me piace molto il prosciutto, e a te?

  I like prosciutto a lot, and you?

  Oh, sì, anche a me piace molto. Oh yes, I like it a lot, too.
• "A" exceptions


  It is not necessary to use the indirect object pronoun when using the proper name of the person who is pleased. In this case the name is preceded by the preposition a and followed by piace / piacciono. If a noun is used instead of the person’s name, the preposition a forms a compound preposition (al, alla, ai, ecc.) with the article accompanying the noun.

  
• Piacere nel passato prossimo


  When piacere is used in the passato prossimo, it takes the auxiliary essere in the third person singular è or plural sono. The past participle must agree in gender and number with what pleases the person: piaciut o (sing., m.), piaciut a (sing., f.), piaciut i (pl., m.), and piaciut e (pl., f.).

  
• Piacere nel imperfetto


  In the imperfetto, the forms piaceva (+ singular noun or infinitive) and piacevano (+ a plural noun or infinitive) are used.

  
• Come si dice which?

  In Italian, the interrogative which is expressed with quale (sing., m./f.) and quali (pl., m./f.). Quale and quali are used to distinguish specific things or people, the same as which does in English.

  When the pronoun quale precedes the verb è, it drops the -e and changes to qual:

  Che (What) is used instead of quale to inquire more generally about things or people.