Verb "to like" in Romanian

This verb has only one possible form "place" in the Present Tense, preceded by the pronouns in the dative "îmi" (1st person singular), "îți" ( 2nd person singular), "îi" (3rd person singular), "ne" (1st person plural), "vă" (2nd person plural), "le" (3rd person plural).

Play: verb to like

Îmi place (I like)	Ne place (We like)
Îți place (You like)	Vă place (You like)
Îi place (He / she likes)	Le place (They like)

The verb can be followed by a complement (noun) or by a verb. In the last situation, the verb must be in the Present Subjunctive.

Îmi place filmul. (I like the movie)

Îmi place să mă uit la televizor (I like watching TV).

If the complement is a noun in the singular form, the verb form is "place". If the noun is in the plural, the verb form is "plac". The complement always has a definite article.

Îmi place ciocolata (I like chocolate).

Îmi plac portocalele (I like oranges).

In the negative form, the particle "nu" must be added in front of the personal pronoun:

Nu îmi place = nu-mi place (I don't like)	Nu ne place (We don't like)
Nu îți place = nu-ți place (You don't like)	Nu vă place (You don't like)
Nu îi place = nu-i place (He / she doesn't like)	Nu le place (They don't like)

The normal personal pronouns cannot be used in front of this verb.

Structures like: "eu îmi place", "tu îți place" etc. are not correct.

Romanian uses a double dative. If we want to emphasize the subject of this type of verb, the subject is in the dative as well. The dative forms of the pronouns used in this case are: "mie" (1st person singular), "ție" (2nd person singular), "lui / ei" (3rd person singular; "lui" is for masculine, "ei" is for feminine), "nouă" (1st person plural), "vouă" (2nd person plural), "lor" (3rd person plural). The full form of these phrases is:

Mie îmi place (I like)	Nouă ne place (We like)
Ție îți place (You like)	Vouă vă place (You like)
Lui / ei îi place (He / she likes)	Lor le place (They like)

In order to write this structure in the negative form, the particle "nu" is placed in front of the second pronoun in the dative.

Mie nu îmi place = mie nu-mi place (I don't like)	Nouă nu ne place (We don't like)
Ție nu îți place = ție nu-ți place (You don't like)	Vouă nu vă place (You don't like)
Lui / ei nu îi place = lui / ei nu-i place (He / she doesn't like)	Lor nu le place (They don't like)

If we do not want to emphasize the subject, it is enough to say: "îmi place". The optional forms of the dative pronouns are: "mie", "ție", "lui / ei", "nouă", "vouă", "lor".

"(Mie) îmi place" - "mie" is optional

"Îmi place" - "îmi" is mandatory

These forms of the verb "to like" are available only in the Present Indicative. If the verb is used in the Past Tense (Compound Perfect Indicative), the forms are:

Mi-a plăcut (I liked)	Ne-a plăcut (We liked)
Ți-a plăcut (You liked)	V-a plăcut (You liked)
I-a plăcut (He / she liked)	Le-a plăcut (They liked)

Remarks:

The contraction of the pronoun in the dative and the auxiliary "a" (used only in the 3rd person singular) is mandatory.

If we want to emphasize the subject, the forms "mie", "ție", "lui / ei", "nouă", "vouă", "lor" must be added in front of the structure.

Mie mi-a plăcut (I liked)	Nouă ne-a plăcut (We liked)
Ție ți-a plăcut (You liked)	Vouă v-a plăcut (You liked)
Lui / ei i-a plăcut (He / she liked)	Lor le-a plăcut (They liked)

Negative form:

Nu mi-a plăcut (I didn't like)	Nu ne-a plăcut (We didn't like)
Nu ți-a plăcut (You didn't like)	Nu v-a plăcut (You didn't like)
Nu i-a plăcut (He / she didn't like)	Nu le-a plăcut (They didn't like)

Mie nu mi-a plăcut (I didn't like)	Nouă nu ne-a plăcut (We didn't like)
Ție nu ți-a plăcut (You didn't like)	Vouă nu v-a plăcut (You didn't like)
Lui / ei nu i-a plăcut (He / she didn't like)	Lor nu le-a plăcut (They didn't like)

Mona Moldoveanu Pologea, PhD Linguist

ROLANG School Managing Director