Take, for example, the sentence "Je parle à Marie." -- I talk to Marie. And now take a look at "Je lui parle." -- I talk to her. You'll notice that the "à" has vanished. It's been absorbed into the pronoun "lui" which replaces an indirect object in a sentence.

"Les peintures plaisent à Pierre." -- Pierre likes the paintings.
"Les peintures lui plaisent." -- He likes the paintings (no "à" in this case).

I hope that helps, -- Chris (not a native speaker)

I meant to add ‘Why is there not ‘à’ or an example of why the answer is correct in the lesson?’ Has something gone over my head?

Les très bons exemples. Merci !

Perhaps it would help to put Claus’ examples in the lesson. I’m sure I’m not the only one who found this confusing.

Thank you very much Claus. It’s not entirely clear to me yet. However with your explanation I can work on where I am lacking background knowledge such as indirect objects:)

Bonjour Sandra, The other verb that uses the subject indirect object reversal is «manquer à». You might possibly find some clarity by taking a look at that verb. Sentence syntax is the same as for «plaire», i.e. the subject is the thing that pleases or is missed by the person represented by the indirect object.

To check if it is a direct or indirect object substitute a name for it (e.g., Marie, and don't worry if the sentence doesn't make much sense anymore). And if there is a preposition in front of the name, it is an indirect object. Otherwise it is a direct object. To wit, first in English: Lucy eats an apple. First, substitute Marie for the part in question: Lucy eats Marie. No preposition in front of Marie, hence a direct object. Lucy talks to me. Substitute Marie: Lucy talks to Marie. There is a preposition in front of Marie, hence an jndirect object. In French: Lucie parle à Marie -- indirect object. Lucie mange des pommes : Lucie mange Marie : direct object. -- Chris.

Thank you Ron. Manquer à has always confused me to with regard to who is missing whom. So I’ll tackle both together until I wrangle the sense out of them!

Thank you for the extra information Chris. I appreciate you taking the time.