Μου αρέσει (I like…)

Let’s talk about shopping – expressing what you like (and don’t like), as well as how to ask how much something costs.

We often want to say what we like and dislike. In Modern Greek though, we talk about what pleases and displeases us.

Μου αρέσει… is often translated as ‘I like…‘ and Δεν μου αρέσει… as ‘I don’t like…‘

But if we look closely, we can see this is not a literal translation.

Let’s compare two sentences:

It’s clear that the construction of these sentences is quite different in Modern Greek.

While εγώ means ‘I‘, μου is better translated as ‘me‘.

While θέλω ends with –ω, showing it is in the first person (I want…), αρεσει does not.

A more literal translation of μου αρέσει το βιβλίο is ‘the book pleases me’.

It’s useful to keep this translation in mind as well as ‘I like the book’. Remembering ‘the book pleases me’ will help you remember the grammatical rules of this construction.

Now, let’s compare some more sentences:

In the English constructions, the verb is ‘like‘. The person who does the liking is the subject, and the thing that is liked is the object.

In the Greek constructions, the verb is ‘please‘ (αρέσει). The thing which does the pleasing is the subject, and the person who is pleased is the object.

Thus, in English, ‘I’ or ‘he’ is the subject, and ‘the book’ is the object.

In Greek, το βιβλίο is the subject, and μου or του is the object.

In the English sentences, the verb changes because the subject does: ‘I like’ vs. ‘He likes‘.

In the Greek translations, however, the verb does not change, because the subject remains the same: το βιβλίο. In both sentences, we use the third person singular verb αρέσει (he/she/it pleases).

We can use this same verb for any singular object or person:

Μου αρέσει η Ελένη. (I like Eleni (lit. Eleni pleases me))

Σου αρέσει ο Κώστας. (You like Kostas (lit. Kostas pleases you))

Της αρέσει το ούζο. (She likes ouzo (lit. ouzo pleases her))

What are the subjects of these sentences?

Eleni, Kostas, and ouzo are the people or things doing the pleasing (αρέσει), so, in Greek, they are the subjects of these sentences. Because they are subjects, they are always in the nominative case (see how we use ο Κώστας, not τον Κώστα?), and they are always accompanied by an article, ο/η/το.

There are many examples in this Crazy for Greek video (watch the first 1:30 mins):

Now, try the activity on page 39 of Ελληνικά Τώρα (Greek Now) 1+1.

Followed by activities Η-Θ on page 12 of the Ελληνικά Τώρα (Greek Now) 1 workbook.

BONUS: Liking multiple things

Because αρέσει is a singular verb, it can only be used to say you like singular things or people.

So, you can use it to say ‘I like the book’, ‘I like music’, or ‘I like Yiannis’, but not ‘I like books’, ‘I like their songs’ or ‘I like men’. For those sentences, you would of course need the plural form of the verb, αρέσουν, which we’ll cover later.

This Do You Speak Greek video gives a good summary of αρέσει, and a preview of αρέσουν:

Πόσο κάνει;

To ask how much something costs in Modern Greek, we use a very similar phrase: Πόσο κάνει;

Remember how to ask how old someone is? (Literally, ‘Of how many years are you?’)

The πόσων in Πόσων χρονών είσαι; is the genitive plural form of πόσος/πόση/πόσο (how much/how many).

Note the similarities:

Notice how, just like αρέσει, κάνει ends with –ει. This shows us that they are both third person singular verbs.

Compare these sentences:

In both of these sentences, the book is the subject in Greek. It is the thing that pleases you, and the thing that costs you money.

Just as αρέσει can only be used to say that one thing pleases you, κάνει can only be used to indicate that one thing costs you. For multiple things, we need to use κάνουν:

‘I like…’ and Μου αρέσει… are completely different ways of expressing the same thing in English and Greek. In English, the person doing the liking is the subject, and the thing that is liked is the object. In Greek, the thing doing the pleasing is the subject, and the person who is pleased by it is the object. In both languages, the verb only changes if we change the subject. In English, this means changing who does the liking (I like vs. she likes). In Greek, this means changing how many things please someone (Μου αρέσει το βιβλίο vs. Μου αρέσουν τα βιβλία).

Talking about price, however, is very similar in both languages. In both English and Greek, the thing which costs money is the subject, the book is the one costing you, the object. That is why, in both Greek and English, the verb changes when we change how many things are costing us (How much does the book cost vs. do the books, Πόσο κάνει το βιβλίο vs. κάνουν τα βιβλία).

GreekPod101 has some great examples of the question Πόσο κάνει; in context:

You can practice asking how much things cost in exercise I on page 13 of the Ελληνικά Τώρα (Greek Now) 1 workbook.