Apetece-te ir ao cinema hoje?

Questions & Answers about Apetece-te ir ao cinema hoje?

Why does the sentence start with Apetece-te instead of using a normal word for 'you'?
The verb apetecer (to feel like or to appeal to) works backward compared to English. Instead of saying 'You feel like...', you literally say 'It appeals to you...'. The -te is the 'to you' part for informal situations. So apetece-te translates to 'does it appeal to you?'.
How would I ask this same question to someone formally?
If you were speaking to someone formally using você, you would change the pronoun -te to -lhe. The question would become Apetece-lhe ir ao cinema hoje?
Why is it ao cinema and not just a cinema?
In Portuguese, you almost always include the definite article ('the') before specific places. The word ao is a mandatory contraction of the preposition a (to) and the masculine singular article o (the). You are literally saying 'to go to the cinema'.
Could I say Tu apeteces... to mean 'You feel like...'?
No, that would mean 'You are appetizing' or 'You are appealing'! Because the verb apetecer is about what is appealing TO a person, the activity you want to do is the main subject. The person feeling the desire is shown with object pronouns like me, te, or lhe.

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