
Why "нравишься мне", not "нравию тебя"?
3 Answers By Expert Tutors
Galyna H. answered 10/22/20
Russian and Ukrainian ONLINE (with a Native Speaker)
There is a difference between нравиться and любить.
Нравиться - to like. Любить - to love.
Она нравиться мне - I like her. Мне нравиться твой дом - I like your house.

Lyudmila G. answered 09/09/19
Russian Language and European Knitting for Beginners Tutor
"Нравиться" - это возвратный глагол (a reflexive verb)/ The verb "нравить" does not exist in the Russian language.
Russian Reflexive Verbs
Reflexive verbs in Russian are used to indicate the concept of ‘self’. For example ‘I dressed myself’. Notice in this sentence that the subject and the object are actually the same person.
When this happens in English we use the word ‘-self’, or simply omit the object. In Russian you simply add “ся” or “сь” to the verb. You can think of this as being a short way to write “себя” (self).
The reflexive form is also used for intransitive verbs. Intransitive verbs are those verbs which have a subject, but no object.
Russians commonly use impersonal speech to express feelings or the state of something. Impersonal speech is when the person affected is in the dative case (or omitted), commonly “мне” (to me). You can often translate this to English as “I feel”, “I feel like”, “I like”, “I would like”.
Certain verbs are naturally impersonal, others are used in this way to soften their meaning. Notice that using the impersonal form softens ‘I want’ to ‘I would like’. The verb нравиться (to like) is always used in this form.
These verbs are in the reflexive form because they are expressed without an object of the sentence. (This is simply a grammatical feature of Russian because the dative case is used, and there is no accusative. When translated to English there may be an object.)
Мне нравится Москва - I like Moscow.
Мне хочется в театр - I would like to go to the theatre.
Мне не сидится дома. - I don't like to stay home.
Note: Not all impersonal speech uses this form. Some impersonal sentences are formed using other methods.

Aleksey S. answered 04/17/19
Russian Tutor for everyone
One reason why it can be hard to explain the reflexive appearance of the verb нравиться is probably because it was formed from an archaic word норовити, which meant something close to please somebody, or to go easy on someone.
That means the possible non-reflexive form would be Ты норовишь меня - you please me, or you please my feelings, and not vice versa. So, the closest way to describe ты нравишься мне in a reflexive way would be "you are fitted to my taste"
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Lyudmila G.
Нравиться - это возвратный глагол (a reflexive verb), the verb нравить does not exist in Russian language.09/09/19