Uso del verbo "gustar" en español.
The Spanish verb 'gustar' is very commonly used to express likes, interests and preferences. However, the construction of sentences expressing likes/dislikes in Spanish is very different from that used in English. If we had to translate gustar to English we would say 'to be pleasing' so instead of saying 'I like something' we would be saying 'Something is pleasing to me'. For this reason, the subject of the sentence will be the thing we like, and we ourselves will be the indirect object.
There are many other verbs that have the same construction as 'gustar' such as 'doler', 'faltar', 'encantar' and many more. In this lesson you'll learn to use he verb 'gustar', the indirect object pronouns and the use of prepositional phrases to emphasize or clarify the indirect object pronoun.
After this lesson you'll be ready to talk about the things you like or enjoy and to ask about other people about their likes and dislikes.
Take a look at this example:
Me gusta el fútbol = I like football
Let's classify the words in this sentence:
Me gusta el fútbol: Me (indirect object pronoun for 'yo') gusta (verb) fútbol (subject).
I like football: I (subject) like (verb) football (direct object).
As you can see the way the sentences are created in Spanish is totally different from English.
These are the indirect object pronouns in Spanish:
After choosing the right indirect object pronoun (according to the person that likes the thing) it is time to conjugate the verb.
When speaking about things we like, there are only two possibilities: 'gusta' or 'gustan'. This is because the verb is conjugated according to the subject, and the subject in this case is the thing we like, so we'll use the third person singular or plural depending on whether the thing that “is pleasing to us” is singular or plural.
Check these examples:
Also, we sometimes use prepositional phrases in order to clarify who likes the thing (because, for instance ,'le' could refer to él, ella or usted).
These are the prepositional phrases you'll find in Spanish:
Also, after the 'A' you could just mention the name of the person:
Apart from clarifying the indirect object pronoun, it can also be used to emphasize the person that likes the thing.
There are other verbs that work the same way as 'gustar':
Ejercicios. Completa las oraciones con el pronombre correcto y el verbo gustar.
Model: A mí ____ _____ la música y a él _____ _____ los deportes.
A mí me gusta la música y a él le gustan los deportes.
1. A María las fresasy a mí el mango.
2. A ellos no los carros pequeños, los grandes.
3. A nosotros las películas de ciencia ficción.No las de horror.
4. Señorita, ¿ los chocolates?No, no .
5. ¿Qué libros a usted? los de misterio.
6. Carlos ¿qué hacer los sábados? jugar básquetbol.
7. ¿ el fútbol a usted?Solo el tenis.
8. ¿ estudiar español Michael? Sí, pero no los verbos.
9. ¿Por qué no los verbos? Sin verbos no puedes hablar.
10. ¡Es una broma! Claro que los verbos pero sólo los regulares.
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