Expressing you like something/someone in French with the verb "plaire"

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE

Last updated: 2025-03-03

73 questions

In French, to say that you like [something] or find [someone] attractive ('like' them), you can use the verb plaire.

Using "plaire" in French

Look at these sentences with plaire:

Cette veste plaît à Marie.Marie likes this jacket.

Ces peintures ne plaisent pas à mon frère.My brother doesn't like these paintings.

As you can see, the structure of the sentence with plaire is quite different than with another verb like aimer. So ...

How to use plaire in a sentence ?

Think of the verb plaire as the verb to be pleasing in English:

Martha likes chocolate. -> Chocolate pleases Martha.

In French, you actually say plaire à [quelqu'un] (lit. to be pleasing 'to' [someone])

Le chocolat plaît à Martha.

Note that the verb agrees with the thing being liked, not the person who likes it.

Therefore with things you only use the 3rd person of plaire: 3rd person singular - is pleasing (plaît in Le Présent) and 3rd person plural - are pleasing (plaisent in Le Présent).

BUT

You can also use plaire with people to say to find [someone] attractive:

In this case, you can use all conjugated forms of plaire:

French	English
je plais à Luc	Luc likes me
tu plais à Luc	Luc likes you
il/elle/on plaît à Luc	Luc likes him/her/us
nous plaisons à Luc	Luc likes us
vous plaisez à Luc	Luc likes you
ils/elles plaisent à Luc	Luc likes them

Mateo plaît à Thérèse.Thérèse finds Mateo attractive.

How to say I/you/he/she/we/they like [something/ someone] with plaire ?

Les fleurs me plaisent.I like the flowers

Le repas te plaît ?Are you enjoying the meal?

Je lui plais.She likes me.

Elle nous plaît.We like her.

Nous vous plaisons.You like us.

Tu leur plais.They like you.

Note that you're literally saying [this] is pleasing to me, you, him, her..., that's why you use indirect object pronouns me/te/lui/nous/vous/leur, as such:

Object(s) + ind.obj.pron. + plaire

ATTENTION:
In French you can also use the expression faire plaisir à [quelqu'un] to say to please [someone], to make [someone] happy.

Want to make sure your French sounds confident? We’ll map your knowledge and give you free lessons to focus on your gaps and mistakes. Start your Brainmap today »

Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Pronom d'objet indirect

Examples and resources

Ça me plaît !I like that!

Hier, le musée a bien plu à notre fils Julien.Yesterday, our son Julien enjoyed the museum.

Tu m'as toujours plu.I've always liked you.

Ses commentaires ne nous ont pas du tout plu.We really didn't like his comments.

Je lui ai tout de suite plu.She liked me right away.

Est-ce que mon dessert a plu à tes parents ?Did your parents like my dessert?

Cette fille lui plaît.He finds this girl attractive.
He likes this girl.