Expressing Likes and Dislikes

1. The Grammar of Liking: Мне нравится

In English, we say "I like the book." The structure is Subject-Verb-Object. In Russian, the idea is that "The book is pleasing to me." The book is the one doing the action (pleasing), and you are the recipient.

This gives us the following structure:
[Person in Dative Case] + нравится / нравятся + [Thing liked in Nominative Case]

Notice the verb has two forms:

• Use нра́вится when the thing you like is singular.
• Use нра́вятся when the things you like are plural.

The verb changes based on the object, not the person!

Let's watch a very short video that introduces this concept clearly.

To help you recall the dative pronouns you've learned, here is a quick reference table.

Let's break this down further with a written explanation and more examples.

To express dislike, you simply add the negative particle не before the verb:

• Мне не нра́вится э́тот фильм. (I don't like this film.)
• Ей не нра́вятся видеои́гры. (She doesn't like video games.)

2. Liking vs. Loving: Нравится vs. Любить

You've now learned нравится (to like). But you may have also heard the verb любить (to love/like). What's the difference, and when do you use each one? This is a crucial distinction.

• Мне нра́вится... is used for first impressions or general preferences. The grammatical structure, as we've seen, is Dative + Verb + Nominative.
  • Мне нра́вится э́та карти́на. (I like this painting. It is pleasing to me.)
• Я люблю́... implies a deeper, more established feeling or a strong, habitual enjoyment. It uses a standard Subject-Verb-Object structure, and the object goes into the accusative case, which you learned in Module 5.
  • Я люблю́ э́ту карти́ну. (I love this painting. I am the one doing the loving.)

This resource explains the difference beautifully.

Summary of the difference:

3. Let's Practice

Time to put this into practice. Imagine you are looking at the exercise below. Your task is to mentally sort the items on the "book" tiles into two categories: things you would use Мне нравится for (singular) and things you would use Мне нравятся for (plural).

Now, let's try translating some sentences. Remember to choose between нравится and нравятся and to use the correct dative pronoun.

Exercise: Translate the following into Russian.

1. I like this game. (game = игра́)
2. He likes fantasy books. (books = кни́ги)
3. She doesn't like this illustration. (illustration = иллюстра́ция)
4. Do you (informal) like Russian movies? (movies = фи́льмы)
5. We like your drawings. (drawings = рису́нки)

Finally, to expand your vocabulary on hobbies and hear these structures in a natural context, I recommend this video.

Conclusion

Excellent work today! You've tackled a fundamental concept for expressing personal taste in Russian. Understanding the logic behind мне нравится will significantly improve how naturally you speak and write.

Key Takeaways:

• To express "like," use the structure: [Dative person] + нравится/нравятся + [Nominative thing].
• The verb agrees with the thing being liked: нравится for singular, нравятся for plural.
• Мне нравится is for general preferences, while Я люблю (+ accusative) is for stronger, more established feelings. Dislike is formed by adding не.

Preview of the next lesson:
We will continue working with the dative case. In our next lesson, you'll learn how to express needs and obligations using the words на́до and ну́жно, as in "I need to..." or "It is necessary for me to...". This will build directly on the dative structures you've mastered today.