# to like



## Dymn

Hi all,

There are some threads about "to like" but all of them are about liking people, so I'm mainly interested in objects or actions, and especially the syntax.

So in *English *you would say,

_I like singing. I like this house._

In *Spanish, *as you may know (or not), the object in English becomes the subject, and the subject in English becomes the indirect object, so it behaves like "to please":

_Me gusta cantar. Me gusta esta casa. _("Singing pleases me", "This house pleases me")

In *Catalan *likewise:

_M'agrada cantar. M'agrada aquesta casa._

How is it in your language(s)?


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## Yendred

In *French*, both are possible, depending on the verb:
_J'aime chanter. J'aime cette maison._
or:
_Ça me plait de chanter_(*)_. Cette maison me plait._

(*) _"Chanter me plait" _is also correct, but it's not common, as it sounds quite formal.


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## elroy

Palestinian Arabic:

I like singing:
بحب أغني — literally “I like/love”

I like this house:
حبيت هذا البيت — literally “I liked/loved”
عجبني هذا البيت — literally “me gustó”

The past tense in the second example refers to your initial reaction to the house.  In practice, it refers to the present.


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## Welsh_Sion

When you say,

*I like this house*

are you just making some sort of 'neutral' statement or is there some sort of emphasis that it's this particular house that you like?

I suspect that it's the former, and in order to express the latter you would (in written English, at least) write 'this' in italics.

It would be interesting to receive confirmation of this, as the structures would differ in Cymraeg/Welsh if your intention was indeed to emphasize. (Celtic languages preferring the device of fronting to intonation and stress, wherever possible.)


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## merquiades

Yendred said:


> _ Cette maison me plait._


I notice when the subject is longer than the predicate, many people here prefer placing the subject at the end.
Elle me plaît cette maison.


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## Yendred

merquiades said:


> Elle me plaît cette maison.


This form is more emphatic.


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## Awwal12

The Russian syntax is arguably closer to Spanish, with the experiencer in the dative case and the stimulus being the subject (the verb itself is reflexive and therefore unable to attach direct objects; it lacks non-reflexive counterparts in Russian):
Мне нравится петь (mné nrávitsya pét') - to.me V sing
Мне нравится этот дом (mné nrávitsya étot dóm) - to.me V this house
The word order is basically defined by pragmatic relationships (theme/rheme, focused words).


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## סייבר־שד

Awwal12 said:


> The Russian syntax is arguably closer to Spanish, with the experiencer in the dative case and the stimulus being the subject (...)


Indeed, and that's something that, as a native Spanish speaker, I very much appreciated when I started learning Russian, and German, too! 



Dymn said:


> So in *English *you would say,
> 
> _I like singing. I like this house._


I know we're dealing with contemporary languages here, but just as a bit of a fun fact: English actually used to behave like modern German, Russian and Spanish, with the liking flowing the other way, like Etymonline states. 

"This thread likes me."


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## apmoy70

In Greek the construction is similar to the Spanish one:

*«Μου αρέσει να τραγουδάω»* [mu.a.ˈɾe̞.s̠i.ˌna.t̠ra.ɣu.ˈða.o̞] or contracted *«μ'αρέσει να τραγουδώ»* [ma.ˈɾe̞.s̠i.ˌna.tra.ɣu.ˈðo̞] --> _I like to sing_ or something like, _of-me (it) pleases to sing_.

The verb is *«αρέσω»* [a.ˈɾe̞.s̠o̞] --> _to please, satisfy_ < Classical v. *«ἀρέσκω» ăréskō* --> _to please, satisfy_. Etymologically speaking, it's probably IE from *h₂er-h₁- _to please, satisfy < _*h₂er- _to fit_ and cognates the Hitt. arā- _friend_, Lyc. ara- _rite_, Skt. ऋत (r̥ta), _rule, law_, Av. arəm, _fitting_, OArm. root ար- (ar-) > առնեմ (aṙnem), _to make, do_.

*«Mου» *[mu] (and the apocopic *«μ'»*) is the 1st person singular, weak form possessive (genitive) pronoun as pre-verbal clitic to express indirect object, followed by the impersonal 3rd p. Present sing. v. *«αρέσει»* [a.ˈɾe̞.s̠i] - > _something/someone pleases._

In Ancient Greek the structure was identical, instead of the possessive genitive, the dative was used (which in MoGr is looong obsolete), e.g. *«μοὶ ἀρέσκει τοῦτον»* *moì aréskei toûton* --> _*to me*_ (dative) _*pleases* *this*_ _(thing)_.


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## Dymn

Welsh_Sion said:


> are you just making some sort of 'neutral' statement or is there some sort of emphasis that it's this particular house that you like?
> 
> I suspect that it's the former, and in order to express the latter you would (in written English, at least) write 'this' in italics.
> 
> It would be interesting to receive confirmation of this, as the structures would differ in Cymraeg/Welsh if your intention was indeed to emphasize. (Celtic languages preferring the device of fronting to intonation and stress, wherever possible.)


Yes, it's the former. Would the verb used or the subject/object roles change depending on the situation?


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## Welsh_Sion

*Dw i'n hoffi/licio/lico'r tŷ hwn/yma*
Am I PRED liking the house this/here
'I like this house'

Normal, standard, unstressed, colloquial, spoken

*Y tŷ hwn/yma dw i'n (ei) hoffi/licio/lico*
The house this/here am I PRED (its) liking
'I like _this_ house'

Stressing that it's the particular house I like.
Still fairly colloquial and standard.

Formality can be strengthened by changing the form of the verb 'to be'.

From very formal to very informal and dialectical:
*Rwyf > Wyf > Rydw i > Rwy i > Dw i > W i *('I am')


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## bearded

Dymn said:


> How is it in your language(s)?


Italian behaves like Spanish (and like Ancient Greek):
I like this house_ = questa casa mi piace._
- 'mi' is a dative pronoun, from Latin _mihi_ ('cases' still exist in Italian personal pronouns)
- 'piace' from Latin _placet_ (verb _placēre_).


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## Olaszinhok

It seems that everybody has forgotten the plural forms:
me gust*an* estas casas I like these houses
m'agrad*an* aquestes cases
mi pia*cciono* queste case
мне нра*вя*тся эти дома.


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## Awwal12

Olaszinhok said:


> мне нра*вя*тся эти дома.


Well, since the Russian predicate is a usual reflexive verb, it's conjugated as usual (by person and number in the present tense, plus gender forms and the plural form in the past tense):
я тебе *нравлюсь*
ты мне *нравишься*
он мне *нравится*
мы им *нравимся*
вы мне *нравитесь*
они мне *нравятся*
он мне *нравился*
она мне *нравилась*
оно мне *нравилось*
они мне *нравились*
(+ the analytical future tense, with the infinitive *нравиться* and the forms of быть as auxiliaries)


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## Olaszinhok

Awwal12 said:


> the Russian predicate is a usual reflexive verb


That is true for the Romance languages too. Anyway, in my opinion, it is essential to stress the difference between the English forms:
*I like the house 
I like the houses* and the other languages using a different construction with the dative pronouns
me gust*a* la cas*a*
me gust*an* l*as* cas*as* and so on for the other languages.


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## Awwal12

Olaszinhok said:


> Anyway, in my opinion, it is essential to stress the difference between the English forms ... and the other languages using a different construction with the dative pronouns


It's rather natural that when the subject and the object are reversed, the verb still keeps marking the properties of the subject, even though it's the stimulus and not the experiencer. Of course, presuming we're dealing with languages with head- or double-marking in verbal constructions (in particular, most IE languages with inflectional morphology) and that the language marks only the properties of the subject but not of the object there (unlike, for example, Abkhaz).


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## Olaszinhok

Awwal12 said:


> It's rather natural that when the subject and the object are reversed,


Obviously, it is natural for language lovers and linguists  but I can assure you that it may sound pretty odd for some learners whose mother tongue is English, at least according to my experience.


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## apmoy70

Olaszinhok said:


> It seems that everybody has forgotten the plural forms:
> me gust*an* estas casas I like these houses
> m'agrad*an* aquestes cases
> mi pia*cciono* queste case
> мне нра*вя*тся эти дома.


Greek:

*«Μου αρέσουν αυτά τα σπίτια»* [*mu*.a.ˈɾe̞.s̠u.n*af*.ˈ*t̠a*.*t̠a*.ˈs̠pi.t̠ça] --> _*of-me* (they) please *these *(demonstrative determiner in neuter nominative plural) *the *(definite neuter article in nominative plural) houses_.
Νοte that the verb «αρέσουν» in is in 3rd p. plural and agrees with the number of the subject «σπίτια» (neut. nom. pl.).

Ancient Greek:
*«Μοὶ ἀρέσκει* οἱ οἶκοι ἐκεῖνοι» moì* (personal pronoun in dative as pre-verbal clitic to express indirect object) *ăréskei* hoi* (masculine definite article in nominative plural) *oîkoi ĕkeînoi* (demonstrative pronoun in masculine nominative plural) --> _*to-me *(it) *pleases* the* houses *these*_

***_Attic Syntax_ i.e. the construction by which plural nouns take singular verbs. The expected verb is *«ἀρέσκουσι(ν)» ăréskousĭ(n)* (3rd p. pl. Present indicative of «ἀρέσκω»).
Τhis construction started with Homer, was followed by Attic Classical writers and Koine writers who adopted Atticism, and fainted away with the end of Augustus' reign in 1st c. CE.
The most common example is *«τὰ παιδία παίζει»* *tằ paidíă paízei* --> _the children play*s*_ instead of *«τὰ παιδία παίζουσι(ν)» tằ paidíă paízousi(n)* --> _the children play_. Another example:
*«Τὰ βασιλέως γράμματα ἔλεγεν»* *tằ băsĭléōs grắmmată élĕgĕn* --> _the king's letters read_ (although the subject «γράμματα» is in nominative pl. the v. is in 3rd p. sing. imperfect indicative «ἔλεγεν» instead of the expected v. in 3rd p. pl. imperfect indicative *«ἔλεγον» élĕgŏn*).
*«Οἱ Βοιωτοὶ ἀπειλεῖ»* *hoi Boiōtoì ăpeileî *--> _the Boeotians threaten*s*_


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## Dymn

Olaszinhok said:


> m'agrad*an *m'agrad*en* aquestes cases


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## Armas

In Finnish what is liked is the object:
_*Pidän* laulamisesta_ "*I like* singing", _*pidän* tästä talosta_ "*I like* this house". 
The peculiarity is that the primary meaning of the verb is "to hold" and its object is in the elative case ("from").


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## elroy

Armas said:


> the primary meaning of the verb is "to hold" and its object is in the elative case ("from").


Wow, that’s the same as Dutch!!!

Ik (I) hou (hold) van (from) dit (this) huis (house).


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## amikama

*Hebrew:*

I like singing
אני אוהב (.m) / אוהבת (.f) לשיר - lit. "I love to sing"

I like this house
אני אוהב (.m) / אוהבת (.f) את הבית הזה - "I love this house"
הבית הזה מוצא חן בעיניי - "this house finds grace in my eyes"


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## elroy

You can also say אהבתי את הבית הזה, right?


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## Penyafort

סייבר־שד said:


> I know we're dealing with contemporary languages here, but just as a bit of a fun fact: English actually used to behave like modern German, Russian and Spanish, with the liking flowing the other way, like Etymonline states.
> 
> "This thread likes me."



Modern English still does if you use the Romanic _please_ instead of the Germanic _like _: _This music pleases my ears. My ears like this music._


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## amikama

elroy said:


> You can also say אהבתי את הבית הזה, right?


Hmm, I think it depends on the context (and maybe on the intonation too).


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