[I was trying to post this in the podcasts forum, but it wouldn't work]

Hello!

First of all, thank you very much for these podcasts! I came across them yesterday whilst looking specifically for information about the usage of 'a plăcea', and was very pleased to find number 18.

My problem with this verb seems to be that just about every time I think I finally understand, someone gives me reason to doubt it again.

I got the idea that it's not really 'to like', but actually from the perspective of the other party or object, as in '(being) pleasing'. I can construct phrases like 'Îmi place cafeaua', and I undersand using it with the subjunctive, as in 'Îmi place să merg la cinema'.

From there, I just assumed that I could apply the same logic when dealing with other people, and say things like 'Îmi placi' or 'Ele îmi plac' for 'I like you' and 'I like them'. I assumed the pronoun 'ele' would be appropriate, since because the verb is 'backwards', 'they' are the subject and not an object. I see in your example you don't use the subject pronoun – is that because it's wrong, or just because 'placi' is not ambiguous and can only mean singular 'you'? You do however give the example of 'Îmi placi', and I've seen this usage elsewhere as well.

However, then I had a conversation with my girlfriend, a native Romanian, about my understanding of the subject, and she said that when dealing with people and not inanimate objects, the meaning of plăcea actually becomes 'to like' and not 'to please'. I had tried to say 'Îi placem' to mean 'He/she likes us', and she said that that was incorrect, and it actually meant the reverse ('We like him') and that it should have been 'Ne place'.

I've searched hard, and can't find anything out there that covers this subject in detail. Even my book, which I've been very pleased with so far, skips quite briefly over this subject giving only examples for liking objects, not people.

So, now I'm confused again. Did I miss something?

P.S. I wasn't aware previously of the form 'Îmi place de [subject pronoun or name]', so thanks for teaching me that. I guess it would be simpler if I just used that in any case where I want to refer to liking a person, but I'm still curious about what it is I have (or haven't) misunderstood.