Verbs Like Gustar Lección

Construction of Gustar phrase Re-enforcer(negative)IOPGustar*What is liked A mínomegusta/gustannoun/infinitives A tinotegusta/gustan“ A él, a ella, a Ud., a María, etc nolegusta/gustan“ A nosotros/asnonosgusta/gustan“ A vosotros/asNovosgusta/gustan“ A ellos, a ellas, aUds., a paco y a María nolesgusta/gustan“ Use gusta if what is pleasing is a single noun or an infinitive. Use gustan if what is pleasing is a plural noun. Two singular nouns will use gusta.

Gustar expresses preferences, likes and dislikes. It is not equivalent to the English verb to like. It literally means to be pleasing. Me gusta la libertad. – I like liberty. (Liberty is pleasing to me.) Al presidente Rodríguez Zapatero le gustan los gobiernos democráticos. – President Rodríguez Zapatero likes democratic governments. (Democratic governments are pleasing to him.)

Gustar is most often used in the third person singular and plural forms- gusta and gustan. It is accompanied by an indirect object pronoun to express the idea that object(s) or person (s) are pleasing to someone. That someone is the indirect object pronoun. Nos gustó el discurso pacifista del delegado. – We liked the delegate’s pacifist speech. No me gustan ni las dictaduras de derecha ni las dictaduras de izquierda. – I don’t like either right- or left-wing dictatorships.

To express the idea that one likes to do something, use the singular form of the verb gustar with an infinitive or series of infinitives. Nos gustaba siempre votar temprano. – We always like to vote early. Me gusta patrocinar y ayudar a un niño. – I like to sponsor and help a child.

Other verbs like gustar. caer biento like (a person) caer malto dislike (a person) encantarto love (colloquial; lit., to be enchanting) faltarto lack, miss (lit., to be lacking) fascinarto be fascinated by (lit., to be fascinating) hacer faltato need (lit., to be needed) impresionarto be impressed (lit., to impress) interesarto be interested (lit., to interest) molestarto be a bother (lit., to be bothersome) parecerto seem quedarto have remaining/left over (lit., to be remaining)

In Spanish, gustar is used with people to express the idea that you feel attracted to a person in a physical and/or emotional sense. Me gusta María Luisa. – I like María Luisa. (I am attracted to her.) A muchos votantes les gustan los políticos jóvenes. – Many voters like young politicians. (They are attracted to them.)

To say that you like someone because of the way they act or behave, Spanish speakers frequently use the expressions caer bien or caer mal. Nos cae bien la presentadora. – We like the talk show hostess. (She’s a great person.) Me caen mal los tiranos. – I don’t like tyrants. (I can’t stand them.)

Use gustar when referring specifically to qualities or defects of a person. Me gusta como escribe el periodista. – I like how the journalist writes. No le gustan las personas infexibles. – She doesn’t like inflexible people.

When referring to food, use gustar to express that a certain food is pleasing or not pleasing, and the verb phrase caer bien or caer mal to express that the food does not sit will with someone. A los refugiados no les cae bien la comida enlatada. – The canned food doesn’t agree with the refugees. Sin embargo, les gustan mucho las meriendas de la Cruz Roja. – However, they like the Red Cross snacks a lot.