UNIT ELEVEN Piacere  and similar verbs 1 Piacere  corresponds to ‘to like’, but it is used in a di ff erent way from its English counterpart. In Italian, the subject of the verb/sentence is the thing or person one likes; the person who likes something is denoted by an indirect object pronoun (see Unit 10): 2 Piacere  is an irregular verb mostly used in the third person singular ( piace ) and plural ( piacciono ). As can be seen in the examples,  piace  is used if the thing that one likes is a singular noun or pronoun, or the in fi nitive of a verb;  piacciono  is used if the things that one likes are a plural noun or pronoun: Singular noun or pronoun mi  (to me) ti  (to you) gli / le  (to him/her) ci  (to us) vi  (to you) gli  (to them) piace piace piace piace piace piace la mia città. questo / questa. il calcio. la musica rock. il tennis. quello / quella. I like my home town. You like this (one). He/she likes football. We like rock music. You like tennis. They like that one. Verb mi  (to me) ti  (to you) gli / le  (to him/her) ci  (to us) vi  (to you) gli  (to them) piace piace piace piace piace piace leggere. andare in bici. sciare. guardare la tv. dormire. ballare. I like to read/reading. You like to cycle/cycling. He/she likes to ski/skiing. We like to watch/watching TV. You like to sleep/sleeping. They like to dance/dancing. Mi piace lo sport. Ti piace ballare? Mi piacciono i gatti. I like sport. [lit. sport is pleasing to me] Do you like dancing? [lit. is dancing pleasing to you?] I like cats. [lit. cats are pleasing to me]