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How to use the verb ‘gustar’ in Spanish?

By: Irati de Nicolás Saiz Tue Sep 17 2024
Spanish
Verbs

Did you know that in Spanish we don't say "I like dogs"? Instead, we say something like, "Dogs are pleasing to me” → Me gustan los perros. That is why the verb gustar in Spanish is tricky but with these two important tips, you will easily master it: 1) you don’t need to memorize many forms, 2) they always go with a pronoun like me, te, le! If you want to know more about gustar and similar verbs, continue reading!

Table of Contents

    What is the equivalence of ‘gustar’ in English?

    As previously mentioned, gustar doesn’t have a direct equivalence in English. In Spanish, we don’t say “I like X,” but instead, we say something like “X is/are pleasing to me.” Let’s explore this further. Take a look at the following examples:

    subjectverbobject

    I like tortilla de patata.

    indirect object pronounverbsubject

    Me gusta la tortilla de patata.

    Do you see why “me gusta la tortilla de patata" means “the tortilla de patata is pleasing to me”? The idea behind this verb is that there is an item or person that creates a feeling in someone. That is, the item being liked (la tortilla de patata) is the subject of the sentence! (Bear this in mind because it will be important later!) And, in order to express to whom the item is pleasing, we need a pronoun (me). This pronoun is a Spanish indirect object pronoun.

    Important

    Notice that the gustar word order is different from English and from other Spanish sentences in general, in that we usually place the subject before the verb, but with gustar it's usually placed at the end!

    subject

    Yo como pizza.

    I eat pizza.

    subject

    Me gusta la pizza.

    I like pizza.

    Pizza is pleasing to me

    Verb forms of ‘gustar’

    Although gustar conjugates like a regular -ar verb (e.g. gusto, bustas, gusta...) most of the time in the present tense you will use two verb forms: él/ella/usted form: gusta ( third person singular); and ellos/ellas/ustedes form: gustan (third person plural). Can you guess why? Yes! Because in this type of construction, the item or person being liked is the subject of the sentence and the subject has to agree with the conjugation of the verb.

    Me gus⤷singularta el café.

    I like coffee.

    Me gus⤷pluraltan los refrescos.

    I like sodas.

    But, what if what I like is an action like running or singing? Take a look at the example in the table below to also see what to do when you like to do an action:

    Use singular form: gusta
    Use plural form: gustan

    With singular nouns:

    Me gusta la música.

    I like music.

    With plural nouns:

    Me gustan los deportes.

    I like sports.

    With verbs (what you like to do):

    Me gusta correr.

    I like running.

    A combination of several things:

    Me gustan los helados y los pasteles.

    I like ice cream and cakes.

    Important

    When the nouns combined are singular, both uses are accepted:

    Me gustan el chocolate y la vainilla.

    Me gusta el chocolate y la vainilla.

    I like chocolate and vanilla.

    Tip

    Use Spanish definite articles (el/la/los/las) when you use gustar with nouns.

    Basically, we use the singular form (gusta) when the person/item being liked is singular or an action (infinitive). We use the plural form (gustan) when the person/item being liked is plural or we have several nouns coordinated.

    Important

    What happens when the item being liked is a combination of infinitives or a noun and an infinitive?

    • We use the singular form when the coordinated elements are:

      • Infinitives:

        Me gusta bailar y cantar.
        I like dancing and singing.

      • An infinitive and a singular noun:

        Me gusta la playa y caminar por la montaña.
        I like the beach and hiking.

    • We use the plural form when the coordinated elements are:

      • An infinitive and a plural noun AND the plural noun is closer to the verb:

        Me gustan los barcos y navegar por el mar.
        I like ships and sailing.
        Me gusta navegar por el mar y los barcos.
        I like sailing and ships.
    Important

    What happens if you want to tell another person “I like you”?

    In this case, the person being liked is tú. Recall that in these constructions, what or who is being liked is the subject of the sentence and thus, it must agree with the verb, so we use the conjugation for tú = gustas:

    pronounverbsubject

    Me gustas tú

    Translation

    As observed, tú is the subject of the verb and it agrees with the verb, thus we must use the form gustas (second person singular).

    Tip

    Remember that subject pronouns can be omitted so we can just say: me gustas (I like you). This implies “attractivity” to another person, so if that is not your intention then you can say “me caes bien” to say you like someone as a friend.

    Important

    Notice that in English, we say “I like it,” but in Spanish, we just say: me gusta. We don't have to add a pronoun “it” like the English. Similarly, with the plural “I like them” we just say: me gustan.

    Tip

    Gustar conjugates like a regular -ar verb in any tense!

    Cuando éramos niños, nos gustaba jugar en el parque.

    When we were kids, we used to like playing in the park.

    Me gustaron mis regalos de cumpleaños.

    I liked my birthday presents.

    Pronouns used with ‘gustar’

    The second important thing you need to know is that constructions that have verbs like gustar, always go with an indirect object pronoun.

    Person
    Indirect object pronouns
    yo
    me
    tú
    te
    él/ella/usted
    le
    nosotros
    nos
    *vosotros
    vos
    ellos/ellas/ustedes
    les
    * vosotros pronoun os is only used in Spain.

    Depending on who likes the item/activity or to whom the item is pleasing, we use one pronoun or the other. For example, if I like swimming I would say:

    Me gusta nadar.

    But, if you like swimming, we need to use the pronoun referring to “you” → te.

    Te gusta nadar.

    Can you guess what happens if “we” like swimming?.

    Yes! Nos gusta nadar.

    • To make a negative sentence just add no in front of the pronoun:

      No les gusta nadar cuando hace frío.

      They don’t like to swim when it’s cold.

    Now let’s put everything we covered together. How would you say “he likes bananas”?

    • Step 1: What is the item/person being liked? → bananas = los plátanos

    • Step 2: Is it a singular or plural noun, or a verb? → plural noun

    • Step 3: Which gustar form matches the plural noun? → gustan

    • Step 4: To whom is it pleasing (look at the pronoun table ⇧) → le (to him)

    • Step 5: Form the sentence: indirect object pronoun + verb + subject

    • Le gustan los plátanos.

    ‘A’ + pronoun for emphasis or clarification

    We can add the construction a + pronoun if we want to make clear or emphasize who likes the item/action. These forms are optional.

    Person
    Indirect object pronouns
    yo
    a mi
    tú
    a ti
    él/ella/usted
    a él/ella/usted
    nosotros/nosotras
    a nosotros/nosotras
    vosotros/vosotras*
    a vosotros/vosotras
    ellos/ellas/ustedes
    a ellos/ellas/ustedes
    * a vosotros/vosotras is only used in Spain.

    For example:

    A mí me encantan los perritos pero a ti te gustan más los gatitos.

    I love puppies but you like kitties more.

    • You can also use this handy construction with people’s names instead of the pronoun:

      A Carlos le gusta la comida salada, pero a Sofía le gustan los postres.

      Carlos likes savory food, but Sofia likes desserts.

      Important

      If you want to use a + pronoun, or a + name the indirect object pronoun is still obligatory.

      A mí me gusta correr y a Esteban le gusta nadar.

      I like running and Esteban likes swimming.

      A mí gusta correr y a Esteban gusta nadar.

    • If you want to make make a sentence negative, place no in between a + pronoun and the indirect object pronoun:

      A nosotros no nos gusta estudiar de noche.

      We don’t like studying at night.

    • Finally, this a is also used to make questions before the question words quién/quiénes ("who"):

    Now that you know how to use gustar, keep reading to learn about other verbs that work exactly like gustar.

    Other verbs like ‘gustar’

    Now that you how to use gustar you can apply the same strategies to many other verbs, remember the two important things with these verbs:

    • You typically only need the él/ella form (the singular) or the ellos/ellas form (the plural)

      • Use the singular if the verb is followed by a singular noun or an infinitive verb.

      • Use the plural if the verb is followed by a plural noun.

        Tip: Add an -n to the singular form and you’ll have the plural form!

    • And, you need an Indirect Object Pronoun (me, te, le, nos, os, les).

      Me interesan las novelas históricas.

      I’m interested in historical novels.

    In this case, las novelas históricas is a plural noun so we use the plural form of verb interesar ("to interest"), and because the novels are interesting to me, then we use the pronoun me. Easy peasy!

    Other verbs you can add to your repertoire are:

    Quedar ("to be left over/to fit")

    Me queda mucho trabajo por hacer.

    I have a lot of work left to do.

    No me quedan estos zapatos, son muy pequeños.

    These shoes don’t fit me; they are very small.

    Caer + bien/mal... ("to like/dislike someone")

    Me caen muy bien tus amigos.

    I really like your friends.

    Tip

    Caer bien/mal or pesado ("heavy") can be used with food to say that something you ate agrees/disagrees with you or was a heavy meal.

    La comida me cayó pesada.

    That was a heavy meal.

    (lit.) The food was heavy on me.

    Hacer + daño ("to harm")
    Los lácteos me hacen daño.
    Dairy doesn’t agree with me.
    Dairy harms me.
    Hacer + falta ("to be needed/ to lack")
    Nos hace falta un ventilador en esta oficina.
    We need a fan in this office.
    Tip

    If you want to say you miss someone, you can say: Tú me haces falta. Notice that tú ("you") is the subject, so the verb must agree with the subject tú.

    Dar + miedo ("to be scared")

    A Luis le dan miedo los payasos.

    Luis is scared of clowns.

    Dar + pánico ("to be terrified")

    Las ratas le dan pánico a mi madre.

    Rats terrify my mother.

    (lit.) Rats give panic to my mother.

    Dar + vergüenza ("to be embarrassed")

    Me da vergüenza hablar en público.

    I feel embarrassed speaking in public.

    Dar + risa ("to cause laughter")

    Este comediante me da risa.

    This comedian makes me laugh.

    If you want to know more verbs that behave like gustar, take a look at the resource we created for you!

    Verbs like ‘gustar’ with adjectives

    It is important to mention that some verbs that behave like gustar can be followed by an adjective in order to express the feeling the verb causes to us. Take a look at the following examples, and don’t forget that adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

    For instance, you can express if something seems interesting or boring using the construction: parece + adjective (it seems + adjective).

    Verb + adjective
    Examples

    parecer + interesante

    to seem interesting

    Estos temas nos parecen interesantes.

    These topics seem interesting to us.

    parecer + aburrido

    to seem boring

    Este libro me parece aburrido.

    This book seems boring to me.

    poner + nervioso

    to get nervous

    Esta casa me pone nerviosa.

    This house makes me nervous.

    resultar + fácil/difícil

    to seem easy/hard

    Los exámenes me resultaron difíciles.

    The exams were hard for me.

    resultar + imposible

    to seem impossible

    Me resulta imposible llegar temprano.

    It’s impossible for me to arrive early.

    resultar + extraño

    to seem strange

    El desenlace nos resultó extraño.

    The ending seemed strange to us.

    quedar + genial/fatal

    to look great/terrible

    Tu nuevo corte de pelo te queda genial.

    Your new haircut looks great on you.

    To sum up

    In this post, we went over how the verb gustar behaves. There are two important things you need to remember:

    • The item/action being liked is the subject of the sentence and thus, it must agree with the verb.

      • Use gusta if followed by a singular noun or an infinitive.

      • Use gustan if followed by a plural noun.

    • We need to use an indirect object pronoun in order to express who likes the item/action.

      • The pronouns are: me, te, le, nos, os, les.

    We also went over many other verbs that follow the same structure as gustar. Remember that these verbs are different from English, but with some practice you will soon master them.

    Before you leave, check out these exercises so that you can practice the use of verbs like gustar! They come with an answer key! Enjoy!

    Downloadable Resources

    Elevate your language-learning journey to new heights with the following downloadable resources.

    How to use the verb gustar in Spanish~Verbs like gustar TableHow to use the verb gustar in Spanish~Activities

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