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:
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).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 |
How to say I/you/he/she/we/they like [something/ someone] with plaire ?
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 in French
ATTENTION:
In French you can also use the expression faire plaisir à [quelqu'un] to say to please [someone], to make [someone] happy.
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Examples and resources
He likes this girl.
