Learn Italian: Ci sono piaciute le decorazioni del ristorante.

Ci sono piaciute le decorazioni del ristorante.

We liked the restaurant's decorations.

Breakdown of Ci sono piaciute le decorazioni del ristorante.

Questions & Answers about Ci sono piaciute le decorazioni del ristorante.

Why is the verb plural (sono) if 'we' liked the decorations?

With the verb piacere, the sentence structure is reversed from English. The things you like (le decorazioni) act as the grammatical subject. Since the decorations are plural, the verb must be plural (sono). The sentence literally means 'The decorations were pleasing to us.'

Why does the past participle end in -e (piaciute) instead of -o (piaciuto)?

In the past tense, verbs that use essere as a helping verb must make their past participle match the subject. Because the subject being liked (le decorazioni) is a feminine plural noun, the past participle becomes feminine plural too: piaciute.

Does Ci mean 'there' in this sentence?

Not in this case! While ci often means 'there' (as in ci sono, meaning 'there are'), here it is an indirect object pronoun meaning 'to us'. This tells us who the decorations were pleasing to.

Why do we use del instead of just di before ristorante?