Understanding the verb Gustar

Gustar: Today's Spanish lesson will look at understanding the verb Gustar.

Gustar is a frequently used verb in Spanish that means ‘to like.’  The verb has unique features meaning that its construction is almost an entire grammatical category unto itself.

Using this sentence as an example:

Me gusta la manzana (I like the apple)

In English we can see that:

I = the subject,

like = the verb,

the apple = the object liked

However, as you can see with the sentence in Spanish it does not follow the same form as in English:

 So in Spanish:

Me = indirect-object pronoun,

gusta= the verb,

la manzana = the object liked.

Therefore, a literal translation of ‘me gusta la manzana’ is ‘the apple is pleasing to me.’

A simpler way to think about this is that in English ‘we like things’, while in Spanish things are ‘to be pleasing’. It is important to remember that the wording maybe different but the message remains the same.

Conjugating Gustar

Gustar is always conjugated in the third person singular or plural.

Me gusta la manzana (third person singular)

Me gustan las manzanas (third person plural)

Here are the indirect object pronouns, which you require for gustar:

Me gusta la manzana / gustan las manzanas(I like the apple/apples)

Te gusta la manzana / gustan las manzanas (You like the apple/apples)

Le gusta la manzana / gustan las manzanas (He, She, It, like the apple/apples)

Nos gusta la manzana / gustan las manzanas (We like the apple/apples)

Os gusta la manzana / gustan las manzanas (You [plural] like the apple/apples)

Les gusta la manzana / gustan las manzanas (They like the apple/apples)

Note: 

If you want to say you don’t like something simply put a ‘no’ before the indirect object pronoun:

No me gusta la manzana (I do not like the apple)

No nos gustan las manzanas (We do not like apples)

 

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