In French, to say that you like [something] or find [someone] attractive ('like' them), you can use the verb plaire.
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
See also Aimer = to love, like something / someone
ATTENTION:
In French you can also use the expression faire plaisir à [quelqu'un] to say to please [someone], to make [someone] happy.
Cette fille lui plaît.
He finds this girl attractive.
He likes this girl.
Tu leur plais.
They like you.
Nous vous plaisons.
You like us.
Elle nous plaît.
We like her.
Mateo plaît à Thérèse.
Thérèse finds Mateo attractive.
Ces peintures ne plaisent pas à mon frère.
My brother doesn't like these paintings.
Je lui plais.
She likes me.
Cette veste plaît à Marie.
Marie likes this jacket.
plaire
Marie me plaît
I like Marie. [i.e. more in a romantic sense]
Les fleurs me plaisent
I like the flowers
Le repas te plaît?
Are you enjoying the meal?
Ça me plaît!
I like that