Breakdown of Mi piace dipingere con mio padre.
il padre
the father
mio
my
con
with
mi
to me
piacere
to please / to like
dipingere
to paint
Questions & Answers about Mi piace dipingere con mio padre.
Why is it piace instead of the "I" form of the verb?
The verb piacere works a bit backwards compared to English. It actually means "to be pleasing to". In this sentence, the activity of painting (dipingere) is what does the pleasing. Literally, you are saying "To paint is pleasing to me" (mi). Because the activity is treated as a single thing (an "it"), we use the "it" form of the verb: piace.
Why do we use the infinitive dipingere (to paint) instead of conjugating it?
When you want to say you like doing an activity, you use mi piace followed directly by the infinitive verb (the dictionary form ending in -are, -ere, or -ire). You only conjugate piacere, while the action you enjoy stays in its base form.
If I wanted to say "I like painting" instead of "I like to paint", would I change the verb?
No, you still use the infinitive dipingere. Italian doesn't use an "-ing" form to talk about activities you like. The infinitive dipingere covers both "to paint" and "painting" in this context.
I thought possessives always needed "the" in front of them, like il mio cane. Why isn't it il mio padre?
You remembered the general rule, but family members are a famous exception! In Italian, you must drop the definite article (il, la, etc.) when using a possessive word with a singular close family member. Because padre is a singular family member, it is just mio padre.
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