"Lui nu îi plăcea pictura."

Translation: He did not like to paint.

[AbigailCar992519]

I almost certain that the sentence can also be...
"He did not like the painting".

[coto.i]

In Romanian "pictura" is both the action and its result. Not sure if in English you can refer to the action using the definite article like in your construction. I think it would be "He did not like painting." to refer to the action.

[MateusSV]

The correct should be "Lui nu-i plăcea să picteze"

[Cris_Nico]

Why 'lui' and not 'el'?

[LouisSepdekdu]

Because it's the dative. The subject of the sentence is pictura.

[Mapka15]

Why not using the word "să" ??

[olb38]

If "pictura" is the subject why is translated as " to paint" - which is verb not a noun? Is it mistake or difference between expresions in languages? Mateus is right for me.

[LouisSepdekdu]

"To paint" is not the subject in the English translation. Because Romanian uses a word that literally means "to please" while English usually uses "to like".

To have an infinitive as subject is possible in English, but using the gerund is more common: Painting didn't please him.