"He does not like cats."

Translation: A lui non piacciono i gatti.

[photondon]

I don't understand why the answer is piacciono. Shouldn't "lui" match "piace"?

[greenbajr]

No, the subject of the sentence is I gatti. Read about piacere.

[LA_danimo]

So it's like "me gusta" (I like) in Spanish, where the verb actually conjugates according to what is liked, as opposed to who is liking it? For example, "Yo me gustan Oreos" (not "Yo gusto Oreos").

[pierugofoz]

i am italian
in Italy all English courses teach immediately in the first lessons that there are two verbs that in English work in a different way from the other ones
-to like and to miss-
I guess the same thing should happen to anyone who studies Italian from English

[webMan1]

What is the purpose of the "A" before lui?

[marziotta]

It's a preposition. To understand how the verb "piacere" works, Italian FAQ point 10. http://duolingo.com/#/comment/233855

[webMan1]

So if you were to literally translate "A lui" is it "to him"?

[marziotta]

More or less, yes, but it doesn't work always. ;)

[DrThos]

"To him cats are not pleasing" is one way to translate it. Though it's awkward in English, it helps me remember how to use piacere.

[Kjeld-Uwe]

Wouldn't be "non gli piacciono i gatti" correct? with "gli" as an indirect object pronoun (ita: pronomi oggetto indiretto; ger: Dativpersonalpronomen)?

[dmmaus]

Why does this one have "i gatti" but the same sentence about him not liking horses have just "cavalli" and not "i cavalli"?

[gimb]

That is also my question.

[greenbajr]

Piaccere is easy once you learn that "io ti piaccio" does NOT mean
"I like you," It means "I please you," which is good english for "You like me."

A second thing to learn is that if I call you "Donna" instead of "ti", the subject "io" usually goes after the verb:

A Donna piaccio io = According to Donna, I am a pleaser.

Same meaning, unusual word order to an english speaker, who would say I please Donna, (so she likes me.) Since "io" means "I" and not "me", Italians don't get confused.