Can you explain the difference between “mi piace” and “mi pi...

La veste mi piace. - I like the dress. (The dress pleases me).

Le scarpe mi piacciono. - I like the shoes. (The shoes please me.)

Contrary to English “I like it", “mi piace” is not a personal expression with “I" as the subject. In Italian the subject and object are transposed — “mi piace" literally means “it pleases me". The verb is third person singular.

Could humans be selectively bred, like dogs, to create 2 subspecies that can no longer have offspring? Do I not understand selective breeding properly? Im not worried about the moral implications, just the science please.

The direct object pronoun “mi" is the object of the verb “piacere" (to please). Also known as conjunctive, such pronouns generally precede the verb that governs them. The expression “mi piace", employing third person singular format, translates literally to English as “it (understood) pleases me", i.e. I like it.

Thank you for your question.

The endings of verbs indicate person and number in Italian and subject pronouns may therefore be omitted except when necessary for clearness or emphasis. In the case of “it" and “they" (referring to things) they are almost never used.

Do you think it is likely that Maegor was presented a young dragon at some point, almost to the point of full-bonding, only to scorn it for Balerion in the end? If so, which one could it have been?

From discussion thus far you might already have understood that “mi piacciono" employs the third person plural form of the verb and translates as “they (understood) please me”, i.e. I like them.

A couple of examples:

Can you explain the difference between “mi piace” and “mi piacciono” in Italian?

Read also: