55 Gustar-se Use of Flashcards
Backwards Verbs
So how do we translate “Pizza is pleasing to me”? Well, we still need to make another change before we can translate. Gustar is a member of a class of verbs sometimes called “backwards verbs.” Sentences that use backwards verbs have an abnormal sentence structure. Rather than appearing at the beginning of the sentence, the subject comes after the verb. Therefore the subject (the thing that is pleasing) comes at the end of the sentence, the form of gustar comes in front of that, and the sentence starts with an object pronoun (which refers to the person being pleased). So instead of “Pizza is pleasing to me” we should translate:
(To me) (is pleasing) pizza.
So how do we do that in Spanish? Follow this formula:
IOP (of person being pleased) + gustar + subject (thing that is pleasing)
See also: Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns
What’s an IOP? IOP stands for “indirect object pronoun.” You’ll learn more about IOPs later, but for right now refer to these charts:
English
to me to us
to you to you
to him / her to them
Spanish
me nos
te os
le les
Put it all together and here’s what we get:
original: I like pizza.
↓
reworded: Pizza is pleasing to me.
↓
backwards: To me is pleasing pizza.
↓
translated: Me gusta la pizza.
Te gusta la pizza.
You like pizza.
(Pizza is pleasing to you.)
Le gusta la pizza.
She likes pizza.
(Pizza is pleasing to her.)
Nos gusta la pizza.
We like pizza.
(Pizza is pleasing to us.)
Les gusta la pizza.
They like pizza.
(Pizza is pleasing to them.)
Notice how the verb gusta doesn’t change in any of the examples above. That’s because the subject “pizza” doesn’t change either.
Note: To say “I like it” simply omit the subject altogether:
Me gusta.
What if you like more than one thing? Now we need to conjugate gustar differently. We need the plural form, gustan, since we now have a plural subject. Some examples:
Keep in mind that we’re conjugating gustar to agree with the plural subjects at the end of the sentence (tacos, galletas, huevos, and papas fritas). The objects (me, te, nos, and les) don’t affect our verb conjugation even though they’re at the beginning of the sentence.
The vast majority of the time, you’ll use either gusta (if one thing is liked) or gustan (for more than one thing). It’s rare that you would need gustas or gustamos, and there are other, better ways of conveying that meaning. See Liking People below.
Me gustan los tacos.
I like tacos.
(Tacos are pleasing to me.)
Te gustan las galletas.
You like cookies.
(Cookies are pleasing to you.)
Nos gustan los huevos.
We like eggs.
(Eggs are pleasing to us.)
Les gustan las papas fritas.
They like French fries.
(French fries are pleasing to them.
Using Gustar with More Than One Subject
Once you’ve learned about using plural subjects with gustar, you may encounter sentences that look like they contain a grammatical error, such as the following:
Me gusta el arte y la música.
I like art and music.
Art and music are two things, right? Shouldn’t gusta (singular) really be gustan (plural)?
Not always. Things get a little messy when y is used in the subject. The official rule comes down to “countability.” If your subjects are “countable” (tangible, concrete, specific), you should treat them as plural and use gustan:
Not always. Things get a little messy when y is used in the subject. The official rule comes down to “countability.” If your subjects are “countable” (tangible, concrete, specific), you should treat them as plural and use gustan:
Me gustan el vestido y la cartera.
I like the dress and the purse.
If your subjects are non-countable (abstract, indefinite), you should treat them as singular and use gusta:
Regardless of grammar, you’re more likely to see and hear the singular gusta when the subject has an y in it, even if the subject is countable.
Me gusta la tecnología y la moda.
I like technology and fashion.
Ambiguity with Le and Les
If you use me, te, nos, or os as your indirect object pronoun, the meaning of the sentence should be quite clear. However, if you use le or les, it’s not readily apparent whom you’re talking about. For instance, how would you translate these sentences?
Le gustan los libros.
Le gustan las películas.
¿Les gustan las canciones?
The first sentence could be translated “He likes books,” “She likes books,” or even “You (Ud.) like books.” To clear up any confusion, Spanish speakers will often add some context to the sentence by adding “a” and a pronoun:
It may seem redundant to include both a él and le in the same sentence since they mean the same thing, but it happens regularly in Spanish. Even if we don’t need to, we always use an indirect object pronoun with gustar.
A él le gustan los libros.
He likes books.
(Books are pleasing to him.)
A ella le gustan las películas.
She likes movies.
(Movies are pleasing to her.)
¿A Uds. les gustan las canciones?
Do you like the songs?
(Are the songs pleasing to you?)
In a similar way, if you need to include someone’s name in the sentence, you’ll start with a followed by their name, and you’ll still use the indirect object pronoun:
Remember that the a is necessary because even though Elena, Marcos, Rodrigo and Felipe are at the beginning of the sentence, they’re the objects of the sentence, not the subjects. We need to say “To Elena,” “To Marcos,” and “To Rodrigo and Felipe.”
A Elena le gustan los zapatos.
Elena likes shoes.
(Shoes are pleasing to Elena.)
A Marcos le gustan los videojuegos.
Marcos likes video games.
(Video games are pleasing to Marcos.)
A Rodrigo y Felipe les gusta su escuela.
Rodrigo and Felipe like their school.
(Their school is pleasing to Rodrigo and Felipe.)
We can also use a and a prepositional pronoun where it would otherwise be unnecessary in order to emphasize whose opinion you’re discussing:
Even though they are redundant, a ti is used together with te, and a mí is used with me, to put a stronger emphasis on the “you” and the “me.”
¿A ti te gusta la Coca Cola?
You like Coca Cola?
A mí me gusta la Pepsi.
Me, I like Pepsi.
Gustar Questions
“¿Te gustan manzanas? ¿Cómo te gustan esas manzanas?”
Normally to turn a sentence into a question we move the subject from the beginning of the sentence to the end. With gustar the subject is already at the end of the sentence, so all we need to do is add the question marks:
statement:
Te gustan las anchoas.
You like anchovies.
question:
¿Te gustan las anchoas?
Do you like anchovies?
Gustar with Other Verbs
Combine gusta with infinitives to say that you like doing something:
Me gusta dibujar.
I like drawing.
¿Te gusta jugar al golf?
Do you like to play golf?
Me gusta leer.
I like to read.
Gustar in Other Tenses
Gustar works the same way in other tenses (and moods):
Me gustó la musica.
I liked the music.
Le gustarán los libros.
She will like the books.
Le gustaría la comida.
He would like the food.
