Thread: What's the difference

I noticed that there are some verbs such as "to like" that use "me, you etc."

Ex: мне нравится

Why don't they use the pronouns like я, ты etc.? And if they do, then when do I have to use them?

Thanks for the answers!

That's basic grammar there. Нравиться doesn't mean "to like", but rather "to be likable". That's where "мне" comes in, as it's not "I like it" but "it's likable to me".

As for the pronouns я, ты etc. with this word. You use it for what actually is an object of "like" in the English sentence:

I like her - Она нравится мне.

As you can see "I" turned into "me - мне in Russian" and her turned into "she - она in Russian".

This is not because Russian is so weird, it's because "нравиться" and "like" have a different semantic meaning.

Originally Posted by iCake

That's basic grammar there. Нравиться doesn't mean "to like", but rather "to be likable". That's where "мне" comes in, as it's not "I like it" but "it's likable to me".

As for the pronouns я, ты etc. with this word. You use it for what actually is an object of "like" in the English sentence:

I like her - Она нравится мне.

As you can see "I" turned into "me - мне in Russian" and her turned into "she - она in Russian".

This is not because Russian is so weird, it's because "нравиться" and "like" have a different semantic meaning.

So, basically the verbs that end with ся are referred to me, so they change to "мне" or "тебе" and "him, her, them" turn to "он, она, они"? Correct me if I'm wrong, and thanks for the answer

Well, not exactly. Although, the verbs that end with -ся/сь are what we call reflexive verbs, meaning that the action such a verb describes hits back the subject. In any case, translations should be done individually, there is no working pattern here.

Originally Posted by iCake

Well, not exactly. Although, the verbs that end with -ся/сь are what we call reflexive verbs, meaning that the action such a verb describes hits back the subject. In any case, translations should be done individually, there is no working pattern here.

I understood, thanks again for the detailed answer

Originally Posted by f32179007

So, basically the verbs that end with ся are referred to me, so they change to "мне" or "тебе" and "him, her, them" turn to "он, она, они"? Correct me if I'm wrong, and thanks for the answer

Historically, they were reflexive verbs, since ся was just a short form of себя. Nowadays the meaning of a ся verb can be unpredictable, so you has to learn each ся verb.

Here are some details:
Correct please (dinlot)
Correct please (dinlot)