Beginning Spanish ¡Empecemos por aquí!

74 •  Chapter 1: La clase de español Lengua 1.8: The verb gustar Gustar is the main verb for expressing likes and dislikes in Spanish. It can be helpful to approach it using word chunks first, and then later we can look at the grammar behind the word chunks. Me gusta I like Te gusta You like (sing., informal) Le gusta He/she/it likes, you like (sing., formal) Nos gusta We like Les gusta They like, you all like Alternative forms Vos Te gusta Vosotros Os gusta The form of gustar changes depending on what is liked. For now, we will only see gusta and gustan . Other forms do exist but are rarely used. Use gusta with a singular noun and with infinitive verbs. Por ejemplo, Me gusta la clase. ¿Te gusta ver películas? Nos gusta escuchar música y leer poesía. Use gustan with plural nouns or multiple singular nouns. Por ejemplo, Le gustan los partidos de fútbol. Me gustan el café y la limonada. Again, note that the singularity or plurality of the person does not affect the form of gustar . Also note that when we use gustar with a noun that is not a proper name, we include the article ( el , la , los , las ). English does not work the same way, so it is worth noting. I like (the) pizza. Me gusta la pizza. I like (the) movies. Me gustan las películas. La gramática You may be thinking that gustar works differently from other verbs we have seen. In fact, the issue is that gustar does not mean “to like” but rather “to be pleasing to.” That is why its endings do not correspond to the person who likes something.