Vicinia familiae placet.

The neighborhood pleases the family.

Breakdown of Vicinia familiae placet.

• familia: the family
• placere: to please
• vicinia: the neighborhood

Questions & Answers about Vicinia familiae placet.

Why does this sentence use placet instead of a verb meaning likes?

Because Latin often expresses this idea differently from English.

• placet means is pleasing or pleases
• So Vicinia familiae placet literally means The neighborhood pleases the family
• A more natural English translation is The family likes the neighborhood

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• the thing that is liked = subject
• the person who likes it = dative

So Latin is not saying the family likes the neighborhood in the same structure English uses. It is saying the neighborhood is pleasing to the family.

What case is familiae here, and why?

Here familiae is dative singular.

That is because placeo, placere normally takes:

• a subject for the thing that is pleasing
• a dative for the person to whom it is pleasing

So:

• vicinia = the neighborhood, the thing doing the pleasing
• familiae = to the family

Literal sense:

• Vicinia familiae placet = The neighborhood is pleasing to the family

Could familiae be genitive instead of dative?