Why is one of these sentence using plaire correct and the other wrong?

Bob M.C1Kwiziq community member

Why is one of these sentence using plaire correct and the other wrong?

I cannot understand at all what the difference is between the phrases below using plaire. It seems to me both are possible but only one is correct according to Kwiziq:

Ce restaurant nous plait  vs  Ce restaurant plait a nous

Please forgive the lack of accents

Asked 2 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Bob, 

Just to add to Maarten's answer - 

You cannot say:

Ce restaurant plaît à moi/à toi/à elle /à lui/à nous/à vous/à eux/à elles 

You have to say - 

Ce restaurant me/te/lui/nous/vous/leur plaît 

You will only use à quelqu'un after plaît if it is a name or a specific person -

Ce restaurant plaît à Céline = Céline likes this restaurant 

Ce restaurant plaît à M. Dumas = Mr Dumas likes this restaurant

Ce restaurant plaît à mes sœurs = My sisters like this restaurant 

Ce restaurant plaît au directeur = The director likes this restaurant 

Ce restaurant plaît à tout le monde Everyone likes this restaurant 

Hope this helps!

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The first sentence is grammatically correct. The second is not - ‘à nous’ is wrong. This isn’t an issue with the use of ‘plaire’ specifically but a general grammatical principle in French - direct and indirect object pronouns are placed before the verb.  Me/te/nous/vous = Me/you/us/you (French Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns)

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Agree with all the answers. But just to mix things up a bit, there are some verbs that work just the other way around: je pense à toi and NOT je te pense.

BLESSINGS A.B1Kwiziq community member

Ce restaurant nous plaît 

BLESSINGS A.B1Kwiziq community member

Ce restaurant nous plaît 

Bob M. asked:

Why is one of these sentence using plaire correct and the other wrong?

I cannot understand at all what the difference is between the phrases below using plaire. It seems to me both are possible but only one is correct according to Kwiziq:

Ce restaurant nous plait  vs  Ce restaurant plait a nous

Please forgive the lack of accents

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Let me take a look at that...