6.1 Language and Speech – Нра́вится э́то де́лать? (Introduction – Like to do?)

Not too long ago you learned how to say ‘to love’ – люби́ть. I told you that люби́ть can also be used to express really liking something.

There is another verb, however, to express ‘liking’ and it’s the verb нравиться. We are going to be seeing this more in the coming days and will look at it a little more closely, but for now, you should know that it means ‘to like’ or ‘to be appealing to’. Read the following examples and then work through the exercises on the following pages to get a feel for this new and tons-of-fun verb:

	Вам нра́вится слу́шать му́зыку? Do you like listening to music?Мне нра́вится слу́шать му́зыку. I like listening to music!
	Тебе́ нра́вится чита́ть кни́ги? Do you like reading books?Мне нра́вится чита́ть кни́ги. I like reading books.
	Вам нра́вится спать? Do you like sleeping?Мне нра́вится спать! I like to sleep!
	Тебе́ нра́вится ходи́ть в рестора́ны? Do you like going to restaurants?Мне нра́вится ходи́ть в хоро́шие рестора́ны. I like going to good restaurants.
	Вам нра́вится говори́ть по-ру́сски? Do you like to speak Russian?Мне о́чень нра́вится говори́ть по-ру́сски! I really like speaking Russian!

Grammar note: Dative Case Pronouns

Мне? Вам? Тебе́? What are these words? Well, what do you think, given the context? The are Dative case pronouns. More on Dative case later, but that’s what this is. It turns out, when you say you like something in Russian, you use a Dative case construction to indicate who likes to do something.