Breakdown of Эта мелодия мне очень нравится.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
очень
very
мне
to me
нравиться
to please / to appeal
мелодия
melody, tune
Questions & Answers about Эта мелодия мне очень нравится.
Why is the verb нравится instead of нравлюсь since the English translation starts with "I"?
In Russian, the concept of liking is expressed backwards compared to English. The thing being liked is the grammatical subject, and the person who likes it is in the dative case. So literally, this sentence says "This melody is very pleasing to me." Because мелодия is singular, the verb takes the matching singular form нравится.
Could I say Мне очень нравится эта мелодия instead?
Yes, absolutely! Russian word order is flexible. Putting Мне at the beginning is very common and sounds natural. However, starting with Эта мелодия makes the melody the main topic of the sentence. It sounds like you are pointing it out or reacting to it directly, as if saying "As for this melody, I like it."
Why is the word for "I" written as мне and not меня?
The verb нравиться requires the person experiencing the feeling to be in the dative case, which answers the question "to whom?". Мне is the dative form of я, meaning "to me". Меня is the accusative or genitive form and cannot be used with this verb.
What if I wanted to say "I like these melodies"? How would the sentence change?
You would need to change the subject to plural: Эти мелодии. Because the subject is now plural, the verb must also become plural: нравятся. The full sentence would be Эти мелодии мне очень нравятся.
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