Spanish Grammar Explained /
I like - me gusta
When learning how to talk about your likes and dislikes in Spanish, don't simply translate gustar with "to like", just don't!
Gustar can sometimes seem like a "lazy" verb, but that's a great thing for learners!
Let's look at how it's conjugated:
(A mi) | me | gusta la pizza. |
(A ti) | te | gusta la música. |
(A él/ella) | le | gusta la guitarra. |
(A nosotros) | nos | gusta viajar. |
(A ustedes) | les | gusta el deporte. |
(A ellos) | les | gusta el fútbol. |
You can also invert the order and say La pizza me gusta as well, which literally could be (wrongly) translated as "The pizza likes me".
Something similar happens in the following examples:
Singular:
Me gusta la pizza.
I like pizza.
Me gusta nadar.
I like swimming.
Plural:
Me gustan las pizzas de Juan.
I like Juan's pizzas.
Our Chatter-tip for you: it's a good idea to memorize the conjugated forms of gustar as if they were each a new word.
I like | → | me gusta/gustan |
you like | → | te gusta/gustan |
he/she/it likes | → | le gusta/gustan |
... | | ... |
The reason why the verb gustar is different is because the subjects of the sentence aren't people, as with most verbs, but instead an inanimate object is doing something to them. Very strange! And hence, the conjugation laziness. The subject is either one thing (singular conjugation → gusta ) or several things (plural conjugation → gustan).
I = subject | Me = object |
like = verb | gusta = verb |
pizza = object | la pizza = subject |
It's like in Spanish we are saying "The pizza pleases me" or "The pizza is pleasing to me". Please never say Yo gusto la pizza. (I please the pizza!?)
The reason is that these verbs express something subjective, like your taste and therefore, the subjective "to me". If you want, by the way, to say that you find something interesting, boring or amazing (again very subjective), you can use the same construction.
Other verbs that work in a similar way are, for example:
Me interesa la literatura.
I'm interested in literature.
(lit. Literature is interesting to me)
Me aburre la literatura.
Literature is boring (to me).
(lit. Literature bores me/ is boring to me)
Me encanta la literatura.
I love literature.
(lit. Literature enchants me/ is enchanting to me)