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- "Gli piace costruire case."
46 Comments
Remember that the verb "like/piacere" is formed backwards in italian. While in English you should say: "He likes it", in italian the sentence is "questo piace a me".
Is just the same as saying "This pleases me", instead of "I like this".
The subject in italian (and spanish, btw) is the thing you like. In that case: "Construire case" is the subject, and "he" is the direct object; and that's why we use "gli" instead of "lui".
Above is correct, but to clarify: the key here is the idiomatic phrasing "Building houses is pleasing TO him" which makes "him" the indirect object in Italian, where as the English "He likes to build houses" has "he" being the direct object.
And as stated, the indirect object pronoun for third person singular (and plural) just happens to be "gli".
Read more here: http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare166a.htm
1916
In your example "he" is the subject, not direct object. In "He likes to build houses for people" we have:
- subject: he
- direct object: houses
- indirect object: people
375
"Gli" vs "A loro"
There is an ongoing discussion in Italy about that.
Is it possible or not to use "gli" even in the plural? (they)
Personally I use both, but to translate "they like...", I prefer "a loro piace...".
- He likes to build houses = Gli piace costruire case = A lui piace costruire case
- They like to build houses = A loro piace costruire case = Gli piace costruire case
273
"They" can like a singular thing, such as a horse: A loro piace il cavallo. In this case they like "building" something which is singular and takes piace.
"gli" is the normal masculine singular form for an indirect object. http://italian.about.com/od/grammar/a/italian-personal-pronouns.htm
1703
"it pleases him to ...." should definitely be accepted. There are many ways of saying the same thing in English. This is a direct translation of the Italian, and it is correct English.
1794
Not exactly - the direct translation is "Constructing houses is pleasing to him". The idiomatic translation is simply "He likes to construct/build houses".
that would be too literal I assume. read this : for those of you who wonder. piacere = please (as in pleasure) mi piacere (literally= it pleases me) = I like... ti/le piace = you like... gli piace= he likes... le piace = she likes... ci piace = we like... vi piace = y'all like.. gli piace = they like...
in this case we use 'Indirect Object Pronouns' (to answer the question 'to whom' or 'to what'), to whom it would be pleasurable (literally)? to her ! le piace la pasta!
1794
Well, I would think you can go with the idiomaic translation (He likes building houses), or the literal (Building houses is pleasing to him). With piacere and other verbs like it, what we would normally think of the subect becomes an indirect object (he -> to him), and the direct object (building houses) becomes the subject.
for those of you who wonder. piacere = please (as in pleasure) mi piacere (literally= it pleases me) = I like... ti/le piace = you like... gli piace= he likes... le piace = she likes... ci piace = we like... vi piace = y'all like.. gli piace = they like...
in this case we use 'Indirect Object Pronouns' (to answer the question 'to whom' or 'to what'), to whom it would be pleasurable (literally)? to her ! le piace la pasta!
1916
Some words in any natural language have several meanings. Specifically "gli" could mean:
- definite article (masculine plural): the (used before a vowel, s+consonant, gn, pn, ps, x, z and also with the plural noun dei)
- indirect object pronoun (dative, masculine singular): him, to him; it, to it
- indirect object pronoun (dative, masculine and feminine plural): them, to them
The last usage is controversial, "a loro" is preferred instead. If you don't like such curve balls, I think you should stick only to Esperanto ;)
1916
Hmm, it might be some Italian dialect. Literally:
- si place = he/she likes himself/herself
- si piacciono = they like themselves