One of the special verbs in Romanian is "a plăcea" (to like).

[audio:http://www.romania-insider.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/verb_to_like.mp3|titles=verb_to_like]

This verb has only one possible form "place" in the Present, preceded by the pronouns in the dative "îmi" (in the 1st person singular), "îți" (in the 2nd person singular), "îi" (in the 3rd person singular), "ne" (in the 1st person plural), "vă" (in the 2nd person plural), "le" (in the 3rd person plural).

Îmi place (I like)	Ne place (We like)
Îți place (You like)	Vă place (You like)
Îi place (He / she likes)	Le place (They like)

The verb "a plăcea" can be followed by a complement (noun) or by a verb. In the last situation, the verb must be in the subjunctive.

Îmi place filmul. (I like the movie)

Îmi place să mă uit la televizor (I like to watch TV).

If the complement is a noun in the singular, the verb form is "place". If the noun is in the plural, the verb form is "plac". The complement has always a definite article.

Îmi place ciocolata (I like chocolate).

Îmi plac portocalele (I like oranges).

In the negative, the particle "nu" must be added in front of the whole structure (pronoun + verb).

Nu îmi place = nu-mi place (I don't like)	Nu ne place (We don't like)
Nu îți place = nu-ți place (You don't like)	Nu vă place (You don't like)
Nu îi place = nu-i place (He / she doesn't like)	Nu le place (They don't like)

The normal personal pronouns cannot be used in front of this verb.

Structures like: "eu îmi place", "tu îți place" etc. are not correct.

Romanian uses a double dative. If we want to emphasize the subject of this type of verb, the subject is in the dative as well. The dative forms of the pronouns used in this case are: "mie" (in the 1st person singular), "ție" (in the 2nd person singular), "lui / ei" (in the 3rd person singular; "lui" is for masculine, "ei" is for feminine), "nouă" (in the 1st person plural), "vouă" (in the 2nd person plural), "lor" (in the 3rd person plural). The full form of these phrases is:

Mie îmi place (I like)	Nouă ne place (We like)
Ție îți place (You like)	Vouă vă place (You like)
Lui / ei îi place (He / she likes)	Lor le place (They like)

In order to write this structure in the negative, the particle "nu" remains in front of the second pronoun in the dative:

Mie nu îmi place = mie nu-mi place (I don't like)	Nouă nu ne place (We don't like)
Ție nu îți place = ție nu-ți place (You don't like)	Vouă nu vă place (You don't like)
Lui / ei nu îi place = lui / ei nu-i place (He / she doesn't like)	Lor nu le place (They don't like)

If we don't want to emphasize the subject, it's enough to say: "îmi place". The optional forms of the dative pronouns are only: "mie", "ție", "lui / ei", "nouă", "vouă", "lor".

"(Mie) îmi place" - "mie" is optional

"Îmi place" - "îmi" is mandatory

These forms of the verb "to like" are available only on the Present. If the verb is used in the Past, the forms are:

Mi-a plăcut (I liked)	Ne-a plăcut (We liked)
Ți-a plăcut (You liked)	V-a plăcut (You liked)
I-a plăcut (He / she liked)	Le-a plăcut (They liked)

Remarks:

The pronouns in the dative are used in the short form: "mi" instead of "îmi", "ți" instead of "îți" etc.

The contraction of the pronoun in the dative and the auxiliary "a" (used only in the 3rd person singular) is mandatory.

If we want to emphasize the subject, the forms "mie", "ție", "lui / ei", "nouă", "vouă", "lor" must be added in front of the structure.

Mie mi-a plăcut (I liked)	Nouă ne-a plăcut (We liked)
Ție ți-a plăcut (You liked)	Vouă v-a plăcut (You liked)
Lui / ei i-a plăcut (He / she liked)	Lor le-a plăcut (They liked)

In the negative, these structures are:

Nu mi-a plăcut (I didn't like)	Nu ne-a plăcut (We didn't like)
Nu ți-a plăcut (You didn't like)	Nu v-a plăcut (You didn't like)
Nu i-a plăcut (He / she didn't like)	Nu le-a plăcut (They didn't like)

Mie nu mi-a plăcut (I didn't like)	Nouă nu ne-a plăcut (We didn't like)
Ție nu ți-a plăcut (You didn't like)	Vouă nu v-a plăcut (You didn't like)
Lui / ei nu i-a plăcut (He / she didn't like)	Lor nu le-a plăcut (They didn't like)

Mona Pologea, PhD. Linguist, Managing Director ROLANG School