"to like" in seven languages
Meaningto like
Spanish
/ɡusˈtaɾ/
other source · Latin GUSTĀRE 'to taste'
Me gusta el café: the coffee is the subject, me the person pleased.
French
/plɛʁ/
inherited
Ça me plaît; but everyday 'I like' is j'aime (bien), from AMĀRE.
Italian
/pjaˈtʃere/
inherited
Mi piace il caffè, mi piacciono i libri: the verb agrees with the thing liked.
Portuguese
/ɡosˈtah/
other source · Latin GUSTĀRE 'to taste'
Unlike Spanish, the liker is the subject: eu gosto de café.
Romanian
/pləˈtʃe̯a/
inherited
Îmi place cafeaua: the coffee is the subject.
Catalan
/əɡɾəˈda/
other source · grat 'pleasing', Latin GRĀTUM
M'agrada el cafè.
English
/laɪk/
native English · Old English līcian 'to please'
Old English said 'it likes me', the same back-to-front pattern as me gusta.
The Latin ancestor
PLACĒRE‘to please’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Romance likes backwards: the thing liked is the subject and the liker an indirect object (me gusta, mi piace, îmi place, m'agrada), as in Old English 'it likes me'. Portuguese turns it round like English: eu gosto de café.
English relatives: please, pleasant, placid, placebo
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esMe gusta esta canción.
- frCette chanson me plaît.
- itQuesta canzone mi piace.
- ptEu gosto desta música.
- roÎmi place cântecul ăsta.
- caM'agrada aquesta cançó.
- enI like this song.