Questions & Answers about Мне нравится этот сервиз.
Why is it мне and not я — shouldn’t it be “Я нравлюсь этот сервиз” if it means “I like this set”?
Russian expresses “like” with a different structure than English.
- Мне нравится этот сервиз is literally closer to:
“This set is pleasing to me.” - Мне is the dative case of я and means “to me / for me”.
- Этот сервиз is the grammatical subject of the sentence.
So the structure is:
- (Кому?) Мне – to whom? to me (dative)
- (Что делает?) нравится – is pleasing (3rd person singular)
- (Что?) этот сервиз – this set (subject in nominative)
Trying “Я нравлюсь этот сервиз” is ungrammatical and also flips the meaning. Нравлюсь is used when someone else likes me:
- Я ему нравлюсь. – He likes me.
Why is the verb нравится in the 3rd person singular, not in the 1st person (like нравлюсь)?