A plăcea means to be pleasing — and it is how Romanian says "to like." It works exactly like Spanish gustar or Italian piacere: the thing that is liked is the grammatical subject, and the person who likes it appears as a dative pronoun (îmi, îți, îi, ne, vă, le). So Îmi place cafeaua is structurally "coffee is pleasing to me," not "I like coffee." This inversion is the single most important fact about the verb, and getting it wrong (Eu plac...) produces one of the most recognizable English-speaker errors in Romanian. A plăcea is a second-conjugation verb (the -ea class).
Because the liked thing is the subject, the verb agrees with it, not with you. One thing → singular place; several things → plural plac. Îmi place cafeaua (one thing, singular verb) but Îmi plac dulciurile (plural things, plural verb), even though "I" never changes. Internalize this and the rest is bookkeeping.
Prezent indicativ
A full paradigm exists, but in real use only the 3rd person matters, because the subject is normally the thing liked. The 3rd singular is place, the 3rd plural is plac. Note the stem alternation c → ce in the 3rd singular and ă → a / e across the paradigm.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | plac |
| tu | placi |
| el / ea | place |
| noi | plăcem |
| voi | plăceți |
| ei / ele | plac |
Îmi place cafeaua fără zahăr.
I like coffee without sugar.
Îți plac filmele de groază?
Do you like horror movies?
Imperfect
Second-conjugation imperfect: stem plăc- plus the -eam endings. Used for past habitual liking ("I used to like").
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | plăceam |
| tu | plăceai |
| el / ea | plăcea |
| noi | plăceam |
| voi | plăceați |
| ei / ele | plăceau |
Când eram mic, îmi plăcea să desenez ore în șir.
When I was little, I liked to draw for hours on end.
Perfect compus
The everyday past: the auxiliary a avea plus the participle plăcut. This is the tense for a specific, completed reaction — "I liked it" (after seeing/trying it once).
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | am plăcut |
| tu | ai plăcut |
| el / ea | a plăcut |
| noi | am plăcut |
| voi | ați plăcut |
| ei / ele | au plăcut |
Mi-a plăcut filmul, dar finalul m-a dezamăgit.
I liked the film, but the ending disappointed me.
Ne-au plăcut mult zilele petrecute la mare.
We really liked the days we spent at the seaside.
Mai-mult-ca-perfectul
The synthetic pluperfect, on the stem plăcuse-.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | plăcusem |
| tu | plăcuseși |
| el / ea | plăcuse |
| noi | plăcuserăm |
| voi | plăcuserăți |
| ei / ele | plăcuseră |
Cartea îmi plăcuse atât de mult, încât am recitit-o imediat.
I had liked the book so much that I reread it right away.
Viitor
Romanian has a formal future with voi + infinitive and a colloquial everyday future with o să + conjunctiv.
| Person | Viitor (voi-form, formal) | Colloquial (o să) |
|---|---|---|
| eu | voi plăcea | o să plac |
| tu | vei plăcea | o să placi |
| el / ea | va plăcea | o să placă |
| noi | vom plăcea | o să plăcem |
| voi | veți plăcea | o să plăceți |
| ei / ele | vor plăcea | o să placă |
Sunt sigur că o să-ți placă orașul ăsta.
I'm sure you're going to like this city.
Conjunctiv prezent
The 3rd person takes the special subjunctive placă (not the indicative place / plac). This is the form you need after vreau să, sper să and similar triggers.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | să plac |
| tu | să placi |
| el / ea | să placă |
| noi | să plăcem |
| voi | să plăceți |
| ei / ele | să placă |
Sper să-ți placă cadoul pe care ți l-am luat.
I hope you like the gift I got you.
Condițional prezent
Formed with the conditional auxiliary (aș, ai, ar, am, ați, ar) plus the short infinitive plăcea. The phrase mi-ar plăcea ("I'd like / I'd love to") is extremely common for polite wishes.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | aș plăcea |
| tu | ai plăcea |
| el / ea | ar plăcea |
| noi | am plăcea |
| voi | ați plăcea |
| ei / ele | ar plăcea |
Mi-ar plăcea să călătoresc mai mult anul ăsta.
I'd love to travel more this year.
Imperativ
A plăcea has no everyday imperative — you cannot order someone to find something pleasing. To express wanting to be liked, Romanian uses a subjunctive purpose clause (ca să le placă... — "so that they like it...").
Forme nepersonale
| Form | Romanian |
|---|---|
| Infinitiv | (a) plăcea |
| Gerunziu | plăcând |
| Participiu | plăcut |
| Supin | de plăcut |
Usage
The mechanics: a dative pronoun for the experiencer + the verb agreeing with the liked thing. Singular thing → place; plural things → plac. To like doing something, use place + să + subjunctive (Îmi place să citesc — "I like to read"); the verb stays singular because the activity counts as one thing. When the thing liked is a full noun phrase, it usually comes after the verb, and a clitic may double a dative full noun (Mariei îi place... / Îi place Mariei...).
Ne plac dulciurile, dar încercăm să ne abținem.
We like sweets, but we try to hold back.
Le place copiilor la bunici, vor să rămână toată vara.
The kids like it at their grandparents', they want to stay all summer.
Îmi place să mă plimb prin parc dimineața.
I like to take a walk in the park in the morning.
Vă place noua locuință?
Do you (all) like the new place?
Common Mistakes
Don't make yourself the subject — the killer error:
❌ Eu plac pizza.
Incorrect — this means 'I am pleasing'; use the dative îmi and let the verb agree with pizza.
✅ Îmi place pizza.
I like pizza.
Don't keep the verb singular when several things are liked:
❌ Îmi place filmele de acțiune.
Incorrect — filmele is plural, so the verb must be plac.
✅ Îmi plac filmele de acțiune.
I like action movies.
Don't use an accusative/object pronoun for the experiencer:
❌ Mă place ciocolata.
Incorrect — the experiencer is dative îmi, not accusative mă.
✅ Îmi place ciocolata.
I like chocolate.
Don't use the indicative place in the subjunctive 3rd person:
❌ Sper să-ți place.
Incorrect — the subjunctive 3rd person is placă.
✅ Sper să-ți placă.
I hope you like it.
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