to like (something singular)
îmi place + a singular thing. The verb stays in the 3rd singular.
Îmi place cafeaua.
I like coffee.
Îți place?
Do you like it?
#91 · Verb
plăcea
In Romanian, plăcea means “to like (something singular)”. It’s the #91 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
A plăcea is how Romanian says "to like" — and it turns the English sentence inside out. Îmi place cafeaua does not mean "I like the coffee" word for word; it means "the coffee pleases me". The person is a dative clitic and the thing liked is the subject, so the verb agrees with the thing: îmi place cafeaua, but îmi plac cafelele. Rank 91, and this one rule is the whole word.
neutralto like (several things)
The verb switches to the 3rd plural plac, because the things are the subject.
Îmi plac câinii.
I like dogs.
Nu îmi plac filmele lungi.
I don't like long films.
to like doing something
With să plus a verb: îmi place să citesc, "I like reading".
Îmi place să gătesc.
I like cooking.
to fancy / to be attracted to (a person)
Îmi placi, with the 2nd person as subject, is the ordinary way to tell somebody you like them.
Îmi placi.
I like you.
to enjoy (in the past, mi-a plăcut)
The compound past reports how something was: Mi-a plăcut filmul.
Mi-a plăcut mult.
I really enjoyed it.
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 2 forms cover about 80% of everyday use — learn these first.
place65%
plac15%
Show 2 more forms
plăcea11%
plăcut9%
Conjugation
- Infinitive
- a plăcea
- Past Participle
- plăcut
- Gerund
- plăcând
- Auxiliary
- a avea
- Reflexive
- No
- Transitivity
- intransitive
| Tense | eu | tu | el/ea | noi | voi | ei/ele |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | plac | placi | place | plăcem | plăceți | plac |
| Imperfect | plăceam | plăceai | plăcea | plăceam | plăceați | plăceau |
| Perfect compus | am plăcut | ai plăcut | a plăcut | am plăcut | ați plăcut | au plăcut |
| Future | voi plăcea | vei plăcea | va plăcea | vom plăcea | veți plăcea | vor plăcea |
| Conditional | aș plăcea | ai plăcea | ar plăcea | am plăcea | ați plăcea | ar plăcea |
| Subjunctive | să plac | să placi | să placă | să plăcem | să plăceți | să placă |
- Read the table by asking who is liked, not who likes. plac means "I am liked", placi means "you are liked" — which is why Îmi placi is "I like you".
- The 3rd-singular place and the 3rd-plural plac carry nearly all real use, exactly as the measured counts show.
- The person is marked only by the dative clitic: îmi, îți, îi, ne, vă, le. The verb never changes for them.
- The participle plăcut is also an adjective meaning "pleasant": o seară plăcută.
Examples
Îmi place muzica.
I like music.
place - muzica is the grammatical subject, not the object. The clitic îmi is the person doing the liking.
Îmi plac pisicile.
I like cats.
plac - A plural subject flips the verb to plac. This agreement is the single commonest error learners make with this word.
Îți place aici?
Do you like it here?
place - Only the clitic changes for the person: îmi, îți, îi, ne, vă, le. The verb itself stays put.
Îmi place să citesc seara.
I like reading in the evening.
place - A să clause is treated as one singular thing, so the verb stays place. seara is a definite time noun used adverbially.
Mi-a plăcut foarte mult.
I liked it very much.
plăcut - The compound past: îmi plus a contracts to mi-a. Note foarte mult, because foarte cannot attach to a verb on its own.
Nu-mi place deloc.
I don't like it at all.
place - nu îmi contracts to nu-mi. deloc is the standard "at all" under a negation.
The verb agrees with the thing liked, not with you. Îmi place cafeaua for one thing; îmi plac cafelele for several. Saying *îmi place cafelele is the mistake a Romanian notices instantly, because it makes the sentence disagree with itself.
In expressions
Common phrases built around plăcea — worth learning as whole units.
îmi place— I like it
lit. “to-me it-pleases” · clitic marks the experiencer: îți place (you), îi place (he/she)