El verbo gustar (and many others)
omething that people frequently express is what they like and dislike. Therefore, when we learn a foreign language, the different ways to express our preferences are something we quickly encounter as we progress. In Spanish, the most common way to express our likes and dislikes is by using the verb "gustar." This verb has a somewhat unique grammar, and depending on the learner's native language, it can be a bit complex to understand at first. The good news is that once you understand how this verb works, you'll grasp the workings of many other verbs as well. Furthermore, the verb "gustar" is used so frequently that opportunities to practice it are part of everyday life. Many other verbs that function similarly are also very commonly used, so what we'll discuss in this article will be very useful for speaking Spanish in daily life.
If we think about verbs with more direct grammar, typically, the subject of the sentence is the one performing the verbal action.
Yo (subject) desayuno (action) café. I have coffee for breakfast.
El gato (subject) corre (action) rápido. The cat runs fast.
Let’s quickly clarify the concepts of subject, direct object, and indirect object. The grammatical subject is the element in the sentence that is conjugated in person and number with the verb. Let’s look at the verb “desayunar” (to have breakfast) and its conjugation in the present indicative tense:
(I) Yo desayuno
(you) Tú desayunas
(you) Usted desayuna
(he/she/it) Él/Ella desayuna
(we) Nosotros/as desayunamos
(you) Vosotros/as desayunáis
(you) Ustedes desayunan
(they) Ellos/ellas desayunan
In the case of the verb “desayunar,” the one performing the action corresponds to the grammatical subject, but there are exceptions to this, as we will see.
Direct and Indirect Objects.
There are verbs that do not need an object to convey information. In the Spanish language, there are verbs, such as those related to weather phenomena, that don’t even need a subject-like particle. So, if I say to someone, “Llueve” (It’s raining) or “Napoleón murió” (Napoleon died), it’s enough for my listener to know from their knowledge of the world what rain is or who Napoleon was for these sentences to convey a message. In contrast, if I say to someone without context, “Yo tengo” (I have) or “Yo doy” (I give), I won’t be conveying any message because these verbs require objects to complete them, so in this cases I’d need to also say what I have or what I give.
The direct object is, so to speak, the one that “suffers” the verbal action. In the case of “Yo desayuno café” (I have coffee for breakfast), “café” (coffee) is the direct object since it “suffers” the action of being consumed by me.
Yo (subject) tengo (action) muchos amigos (direct object).
Ella (subject) vende (action) su auto (direct object).
On the other hand, the indirect object is the one receiving the verbal action. A small clarification: normally, according to the logic of Spanish grammar, verbs that accept a single object accept a direct object, and verbs that accept an indirect object also accept a direct object. In other words, normally, if there is only one object, it will be a direct object, although this rule has some exceptions. With that said, let’s look at examples of verbs with two objects.
Yo (subject) le doy (action) una manzana (direct object) a mi hija (indirect object). I give an apple to my daughter.
Ella (subject) le vende (action) su auto (direct object) a su vecino (indirect object). She sells her car to her neighbour.
Why the pronoun “le” is placed between the subject and the verb is a discussion for another article. In this case, let’s simply note that the apple and the car are the direct objects since they “suffer” the actions (the apple is given and the car is sold), and the daughter and the neighbor are the indirect objects since they “receive” the action of the verb: my daughter receives the apple I give her, and the neighbor receives the car they sell him. That said, let’s return to the verb “gustar.”
In the case of the verb “gustar,” nobody doubts that if I like something, I am the one attracted to that thing. But grammatically, verbs like “gustar” work a bit differently because what functions as the subject in the sentence is what causes that attraction, and the one feeling the attraction is the indirect object of the verb. So, remember that the grammatical subject is always conjugated in person and number with the verb.
Me (1º person, singular) gustan (3º person, plural) las flores (they) (3º person, plural). I like flowers.
Nos (1º person, plural) gusta (3º person, singular) la sopa (it) (3º person, singular). We like the soup.
So, in the two examples above you can notice that I (one) like (many) flowers, and we (many) like (one) soup. That’s why what’s being liked functions as the subject: the verb is conjugated with it in person and number. And even though the most frequent way to express what you like in English is with the verb to like, a better comparison to understand how the verb “gustar” functions is with verbs like “to please”. Flowers please me. The soup pleases us.
As you can see in the examples, we always conjugate the verb “gustar” with what causes the attraction. The indirect object, i.e., the one experiencing the attraction, is introduced by indirect object pronouns, which cannot be omitted.
Pronombres de objeto indirecto.
(I) Yo Me
(you) Tú Te
(you) Usted Le
(he/she/it) Él/Ella Le
(we) Nosotros/as Nos
(you) Vosotros/as Os
(you) Ustedes Les
(they) Ellos/Ellas Les
Examples:
(Ellos) Les gusta el idioma español. They like the Spanish language.
(Tú) Te gustan los días soleados. You like sunny days.
(Vosotros) Os gusta el invierno. You like Winter.
(Nosotros) Nos gusta el fútbol. We like football.
(Ustedes) Les gustan los animales. You like animals.
The personal pronouns in parentheses are only there to relate them to their indirect object pronouns since they are never used as part of the indirect object with verbs of this type. These indirect object pronouns are called weak pronouns, pronombres átonos, and must be explicitly stated in the sentence. Later in this article, we’ll see tonic pronouns, which are optional. But before that, let’s briefly review how to introduce what we like, i.e., the grammatical subject of the verb “gustar.” If we are introducing a noun, we normally place the definite article before it.
Me gustan las (plural feminine definite article) flores. I like flowers.
Nos gusta el (singular masculine definite article) vino. We like wine.
(Ella) Le gusta la (singular feminine definite article) filosofía. She likes philosophy.
(Ellos) Les gustan los (plural masculine definite article) animales. They like animals.
However, if we are going to introduce a verb, meaning that we like an action, we do not use an article.
Me gusta caminar. I like to walk.
Nos justa jugar al ajedrez. We like to play chess.
(Ella) Le gusta comer. She likes to eat.
What we like can also be in the second person: in this case, we don’t use articles.
Me gustas tú. I like you.
Finally, to select a particular item from various possible options without specifying which one we are selecting, we use the indefinite article.
¿Te gustaron las camisas? Did you like the shirts?
Me gustó una (camisa). I liked one (shirt).
Again, to specify which one we liked, we use the definite article.
¿Te gustaron las camisas? Did you like the shirts?
Me gustó una (camisa). (Me gustó) la roja. I liked one shirt. (I liked) the red one.
Simplified and more common in spoken language:
¿Te gustaron las camisas?
Me gustó una. La roja.
Los pronombres tónicos.
Sometimes, to emphasize what we are expressing or to make it clear which person we are referring to when the context is not sufficient (“le gustan las flores” could correspond to him, her, or formal you, for example), we use the so called tonic pronouns. These are optional and are normally used only when necessary for some reason. Let’s see the pronouns and then some examples. As you will notice in the list, these pronouns are introduced by the preposition “a,” which is mandatory when using them. Another detail is that using tonic pronouns does not imply that we can omit the weak pronouns. In other words, if we use tonic pronouns, we use both.
(I) A mí (me) (yo)
(you) A tí (te) (tú)
(you) A usted (le) (usted)
(he/she/it) A él/ella (le) (él/ella)
(we) A nosotros/as (nos) (nosotros/as)
(you) A vosotros/as (os) (vosotros/as)
(you) A ustedes (les) (ustedes)
(they) A ellos/ellas (les) (ellos/ellas)
As you can see in the list, these pronouns change only in the 1st and 2nd person singular (a mí, a tí), while in the rest, they match the regular personal pronouns, always preceded by the preposition “a”. Finally, something simple, right?
Using Tonic Pronouns.
In general, we use tonic pronouns to emphasize:
Sin (without) pronombres tónicos:
¿No te gusta el chocolate? You don’t like chocolate?
No, no me gusta. No, I don’t.
Con (with) pronombres tónicos (emphasized):
A tí no te gusta el chocolate, ¿verdad?
¡A mí sí me gusta!
Also, to distinguish between two different cases:
A mí me gusta el chocolate, pero a mi novia no (le gusta). I like chocolate, but my girlfriend doesn’t (like it).
Yes, there’s another exception.
Although we mentioned earlier that even if we use a pronombre tónico, we must use the pronombre átono and the verb “gustar” along with it, there is an exception to this rule. When the context allows it, we can omit both the weak pronoun and the verb “gustar,” replacing them with “sí” (yes) or “no” (no). Let’s see a couple of examples.
¿A tí te gusta el chocolate?
Sí, a mí (me gusta el chocolate).
Sí, a mí sí.
¿A vosotros os gusta el fútbol?
A mí sí, pero a él no.
In the case of questions with “quién” (who) or “alguien” (someone) it’s possible to answer only with the pronombres tónicos.
¿A quién le gusta el chocolate? Who likes chocolate?
A mí. I do.
¿A alguien aquí le gusta el vino? Someone here likes wine?
A nosotros. We do.
Negative Forms.
Once again, something simple. To negate the verb “gustar,” we always place the word “no” before the pronombre átono.
No me gusta la sopa. I don’t like soup.
No nos gusta el fútbol. We don’t like football.
The word “no” always goes before the pronombre átono, regardless of the sentence’s order, as we’ll see later in this article. Thus, if we are going to use a strong pronoun or a proper noun at the beginning of the sentence, the order is as follows:
A mí no me gusta la sopa.
A Gabriela no le gusta el fútbol.
Sentence Structure.
In Spanish, sentence structure is relatively flexible and can often change to emphasize different elements.
(A mí) me gustó la sopa.
La sopa me gustó (a mí).
La sopa (a mí) me gustó.
The meaning of the three examples, or six actually if we consider the tonic pronouns, is roughly the same, but each sentence carries a slightly different subjective meaning, which can be very subtle. For example, “Me gustó la sopa,” the most basic of expressions, simply means that I liked the soup. If we add the tonic pronoun and say “A mí me gustó la sopa” we may mean, for example, that I liked the soup even though others didn’t. If we say “La sopa me gustó” we emphasize “la sopa” so we could mean that we liked the soup compared to other dishes that we didn’t like. I could give many more examples, but it doesn’t make sense. Learning the subjective aspects of a language, in my view, is impossible in an article like this and is even, sorry teachers for this, very difficult in the classroom. I’m convinced that there are certain aspects of language that one can only acquire through regular use of the language by interacting with native speakers or advanced users.
We’ve reached the end of the journey, and that doesn’t mean that by reading this article you’ll know everything there is to know to master verbs like “gustar.” I don’t want to include more information because I think I’ve already included too much. I hope these lines have been helpful, and to conclude, I’ll leave you with a list of verbs that have the same grammar as “gustar” and are commonly used in the language, along with some example sentences. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you for reading!
Other verbs.
Encantar: similar to like, but stronger.
(A mí) me encantan los días lluviosos. I (really like/love) rainy days.
(A nosotros) nos encanta el chocolate. We (really like/love) chocolate.
Fascinar: same meaning, even stronger.
(A ella) le fascinan los animales. She’s fascinated by animals.
(A ellos) les fascina el fútbol. They’re fascinated by football.
Molestar: to bother, to annoy.
(A mí) me molestan los mosquitos. Mosquitoes bother me.
(A vosotros) os molesta el ruido de la calle. The street noise annoys you.
Interesar: to interest, to be interested in.
(A tí) te interesan los negocios, ¿verdad? You’re interested in business, aren’t you?
(A ella) le interesa el arte egipcio. She’s interested in egyptian art.
Preocupar: to worry.
(A él) le preocupan los incendios forestales. He worries about forest fires. (A nosotros) nos preocupa la economía. We worry about the economy.
Importar: to matter.
(A mí) me importan los derechos de los animales. Animal rights matter to me.
(A ellos) les importa el medio ambiente. The environment matters to them.
Doler: to hurt, to have pain.
(A mí) me duelen los pies. My feet hurt.
(A nosotros) nos duele la cabeza. We have a headache.
Aburrir: to bore.
(A él) le aburren las clases largas. Long classes bore him.
(A ellos) les aburre la Historia. History bores them.
Agradar: similar to “gustar”, but sounds more formal or even literary.
Tú me agradas (a mí). I like you.
(A nosotros) nos agrada ir a la playa. We like to go to the beach.
Cansar: to tire, to wear out.
(A mí) me cansan los paseos en las montañas. Mountain hikes tire me.
(A ellos) los cansa trabajar. To work wears them out.
Frustrar: to frustrate.
(A mí) me frustran las derrotas. Defeats frustrate me.
(A ellos) los frustra perder. To lose frustrates them.
Sorprender: to surprise.
(A él) le sorprenden los actos de magia. Magic tricks surprise him.
(A nosotros) nos sorprende tu actitud. Your attitude surprises us.
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