Can you explain the difference between “mi piace” and “mi piacciono” in Italian?

La veste mi piace. - I like the dress. (The dress pleases me).

From discussion thus far you might already have understood that “mi piacciono" employs the third person plural form of the verb and translates as “they (understood) please me”, i.e. I like them.

The direct object pronoun “mi" is the object of the verb “piacere" (to please). Also known as conjunctive, such pronouns generally precede the verb that governs them. The expression “mi piace", employing third person singular format, translates literally to English as “it (understood) pleases me", i.e. I like it.

Fossils show colonies of reptiles lived communally 250 million years ago - Phys.org

Contrary to English “I like it", “mi piace” is not a personal expression with “I" as the subject. In Italian the subject and object are transposed — “mi piace" literally means “it pleases me". The verb is third person singular.

A couple of examples:

The endings of verbs indicate person and number in Italian and subject pronouns may therefore be omitted except when necessary for clearness or emphasis. In the case of “it" and “they" (referring to things) they are almost never used.

Why do some young mothers trick a guy into believing that they're pregnant and it's their child when years later they find out that it's not even theirs should he still pay child support or not?

Thank you for your question.

Le scarpe mi piacciono. - I like the shoes. (The shoes please me.)