The Italian verb, piacere, literally means to be pleasing. It is, however, better translated as to like. This verb has some special features and uses, which are detailed below.
- Piacere is used with either an indirect object pronoun (pronomi personali indiretti atoni) or an emphasized subject pronoun (pronomi personali indiretti tonici). When the indirect object is a stated person, that person’s name or title must be preceded with the preposition a.
Mi piace cucinare.
A me piace cucinare.
I like to cook.
Vi piace questa casa?
A voi piace questa casa?
Do you like this house?
A Matteo piace il cioccolato.
Matteo likes chocolate.
A mia madre piace leggere.
My mom likes to read.
NB: In contemporary, spoken Italian it is becoming common to hear A me mi piace... This is grammatically incorrect; you should use either a me or mi.