caer bien
Spanish edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
caer bien (first-person singular present caigo bien, first-person singular preterite caí bien, past participle caído bien)
- (transitive, idiomatic) to please, be nice, make a good impression (a person)
- Synonyms: agradar, simpatizar
- Antonyms: caer mal, caer gordo, caer pesado
- Gerardo siempre ha caído bien
- Gerardo always has been nice (to people)
- No les caigo bien a tus padres
- I don't please your parents
- (transitive, idiomatic) to promote or make for good or proper digestion (food)
- Synonym: hacer buen provecho
- Antonyms: caer mal, caer de peso
- Tu caldo me cayó muy bien
- Your broth resulted in a good digestion for me
- (transitive, idiomatic) to make happy, make laugh, satisfy, please (news, advice, announcement)
- Synonym: agradar
- Antonyms: caer mal, caer de peso
- La noticia no le cayó bien al jefe, y está de mal humor
- The news didn't make the boss happy, and he's in a bad mood
Usage notes edit
Caer bien and caer mal can be used to show whether a person likes or dislikes another person. In this sense, caer bien is used like gustar, but in a friendship way, with the person being liked as the subject of the sentence instead of the object. Therefore, the verb is conjugated to reflect the subject.
- Me cae bien tu amiga.
- I like your friend.
- ("Tu amiga" is the subject, so the verb is conjugated in the third person and not the first person.)
- Me caen bien tus amigas.
- I like your friends.
- ("Tus amigas" is the subject, so the verb must be plural.)
- A Juan le cae bien mi amigo.
- John likes my friend.
- The prepositional phrase a Juan is used because it is not possible to write Juan cae bien mi amigo. Whenever a person's name is used instead of a personal pronoun, the person's name must be preceded by the preposition a. A redundant pronoun such as le is also needed. This sentence can also be written as Mi amigo le cae bien a Juan.
See also edit
Further reading edit
- “caer bien alguien”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014