piacere (passato)

'Piacere' in the Past Tense

Level 2

In the past tense (passato prossimo), piacere uses the auxiliary essere. The past participle piaciuto must change its ending to match the gender and number of the thing that was liked.

How It Works

To use piacere in the passato prossimo, you must follow these rules:

1. The Auxiliary: You must always use essere. Never use 'avere'.
2. The Agreement: The past participle piaciuto behaves like an adjective. It changes to piaciuto, piaciuta, piaciuti, or piaciute depending on the subject (the thing or person liked).
3. The Indirect Object: To indicate who liked something, use indirect object pronouns (mi, ti, gli, etc.) or the preposition a followed by a noun (e.g., A Marco è piaciuto...).
4. Word Order: Indirect object pronouns (except loro) are placed before the auxiliary verb (e.g., Mi è piaciuto). If you use loro (to them), it typically follows the verb (e.g., È piaciuto loro), but in modern Italian, it is more common to use gli before the verb to mean 'to them' (e.g., Gli è piaciuto).
5. Negation: To make a sentence negative, place non before the indirect object pronoun (e.g., Non mi è piaciuto).

Common Forms:

Mi è piaciuto/a (I liked it)
Mi sono piaciuti/e (I liked them)

Note on Persons: While we usually like objects or activities, you can like people too! In this case, piacere conjugates to match that person: Mi sei piaciuto (I liked you).

If the 'thing liked' is an action (an infinitive verb), always use the masculine singular: Mi è piaciuto ballare.

Examples (6)

Mi è piaciuto molto il film che abbiamo visto ieri.
I liked the movie we saw yesterday very much.
Word by Word: To me is pleased much the movie that we saw yesterday.
Since 'il film' is masculine singular, we use 'è piaciuto'.
Ti sono piaciute le lasagne di mia nonna?
Did you like my grandmother's lasagna?
Word by Word: To you are pleased the lasagnas of my grandmother?
Since 'le lasagne' is feminine plural, the verb becomes 'sono piaciute'.
A Marco non è piaciuta la festa.
Marco didn't like the party.
Word by Word: To Marco not is pleased the party.
When using a name, use the preposition 'a'. 'La festa' is the subject, so we use 'è piaciuta'.
Ci è piaciuto camminare in montagna.
We liked walking in the mountains.
Word by Word: To us is pleased to walk in mountain.
When the subject is an infinitive (camminare), the verb is always masculine singular.
Mi sei piaciuta molto al concerto di ieri!
I liked you (feminine) a lot at yesterday's concert!
Word by Word: To me you are pleased much at the concert of yesterday!
If the person liked is 'you', the verb conjugates to 'sei piaciuta'.
Vi sono piaciuti i regali?
Did you (plural) like the gifts?
Word by Word: To you (plural) are pleased the gifts?
The subject 'i regali' is masculine plural, so we use 'sono piaciuti'.

Common Mistakes

Using 'avere' as the auxiliary verb.
Ho piaciuto il libro.
Mi è piaciuto il libro.
Piacere is an intransitive verb in Italian and requires 'essere' in compound tenses.
Agreeing the verb with the person who likes the thing.
Maria: 'Mi sono piaciuta la pizza.'
Maria: 'Mi è piaciuta la pizza.'
The verb must agree with the thing being liked (la pizza), not the person (Maria).
Using the plural verb for multiple infinitives.
Mi sono piaciuti cantare e ballare.
Mi è piaciuto cantare e ballare.
When the 'things liked' are verbs (infinitives), the verb 'piacere' stays in the masculine singular form.

How It Connects

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piacere (passato)Level 2'Piacere' in the Past Tense

Learn This First

To learn 'piacere' in the past tense, a learner must combine the inverted sentence structure of the verb 'piacere' with the rules for forming the 'passato prossimo' using the auxiliary 'essere', including the necessary agreement of the past participle.

Words in This Pattern

Sources

Practice piacere (passato) in Bubblegum

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