Chapter 6
Declaring Your Likes and Dislikes
with Gustar
In This Chapter
䊳 Clarifying action with indirect object pronouns
䊳 Making choices with verbs like gustar
䊳 Exposing yourself to more verbs like gustar
W hen it comes to liking and disliking something, English and Spanish have a slightly
different way of expressing what’s going on. In English, the subject of the sentence is
in charge of liking or disliking something. You may say, “I like vanilla ice cream,” or, “I don’t
like red sports cars.” In Spanish, the object of your desire, or lack of desire, is more respon-
sible for pleasing you. Instead of saying, “I like vanilla ice cream,” you say, “Vanilla ice cream
is pleasing to me” — “Me gusta el helado de vainilla.”
In Spanish, rather than looking for the subject at the beginning of the sentence to determine
the verb form, you look to the object at the end of the sentence. The object is in control of
the action. This chapter introduces you to an entire group of verbs with a variety of mean-
ings that share this reverse formation process and use indirect-object pronouns to clarify
the who in the sentence.
Taking on Indirect-Object Pronouns
Before I get started explaining the finer points of a complicated Spanish verb gustar, I need
to let you in on the secret of indirect-object pronouns, because you need them when you
work with gustar and other verbs like it.
An indirect object is anything or anyone that the action of a sentence affects in an indirect
way. If you kick your friend Sally the ball, for example, the ball is the direct object because
it’s getting kicked, and Sally is the indirect object. When you use the indirect object, you’re
saying you’re kicking the ball “to Sally.”
A pronoun is a word that stands in for a specific name or noun. Think of it as the generic
brand. So if instead of saying you “kicked your friend Sally the ball,” you said you “kicked
her the ball,” you’d be using an indirect object pronoun — her. The indirect-object pronoun
usually implies the word to or for. Spanish uses the indirect-object pronouns in the table
that follows.
Indirect Object Pronouns
me = to me nos = to us
te = to you (familiar) os = to you (plural, familiar)
le = to him, her, you (formal) les = to them, you (plural, formal)
74 Part II: Exploring Some Exceptional Exceptions
When you use one of these indirect-object pronouns in a Spanish sentence, be sure to place
it in front of the conjugated verb.
Take Your Pick: Gusta or Gustan?
In Spanish, expressions of like and dislike are completely flip-flopped when compared to
English. You use the verb gustar for the verb to like in English, but gustar really means to be
pleasing to. When you form a sentence, then, whatever is doing the pleasing becomes the
subject and determines the form of the verb gustar. Use the following rules as your guide:
⻬ If you like a single thing, use the third-person singular form, gusta.
⻬ If you like two or more things, use the third-person plural form, gustan.
⻬ If you like to do activities and you’re using verbs to describe those activities, use the
third-person singular form. Stick with the third-person singular, even if you like multi-
ple activities.
⻬ Use indirect-object pronouns to clarify to whom the thing (subject) is pleasing. If you
need further clarification, place a clause with a and the name of the person at the
beginning of your sentence.
To see how this plays out in real life, check out the following example:
Sentence: A Juan le gusta el restaurante Mexicano.
Literal translation: To Juan, to him, is pleasing the Mexican restaurant.
Real-life translation: Juan likes the Mexican restaurant.
A Juan is used here to clarify who is indicated by the pronoun le. Sometimes you need
prepositional phrases only for emphasis, rather than clarity. For example, if I was telling you
about something that I liked, you’d know that the Spanish indirect-object pronoun me was
me, but I can emphasize that I really liked it by adding, a mí at the front of my sentence.
Here’s a sentence with a plural subject. Remember, the subject is at the end of the sentence.
Sentence: A ellos les gustan las películas.
Literal translation: To them are pleasing movies.
Real-life translation: They like movies.
You simply put a no in front of the indirect-object pronoun — after the clarifying clause —
to make a negative statement with the verb gustar and other similar verbs. So for example:
A él no le gusta pescar. = He doesn’t like to fish.
You can add mucho after the verb to say that you really like something. For example:
A ella le gusta mucho bailar. = She really likes dancing.
Translate the following sentences into Spanish. Remember to use clarifying clauses with the
preposition a at the beginning of your sentences. Use gusta with singular subjects and verbs
and gustan with plural subjects, as I show you here:
The children like candy. = A los niños les gustan los dulces.
Chapter 6: Declaring Your Likes and Dislikes with Gustar 75
1. She likes dogs.
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. They like to dance.
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. He doesn’t like to wash the dishes.
__________________________________________________________________________________
4. We like to sing.
__________________________________________________________________________________
5. I really like ice cream.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Brushing up on Other Verbs Like Gustar
You have to admit that gustar is out of the norm as far as Spanish verbs go, but it isn’t a
one-of-a-kind wonder. The verb gustar is a member of an exclusive organization of verbs
that include verbs that mean repugnant to, fascinating to, and interesting to.
Conjugating these verbs is a snap. You can forget, for a moment anyway, all you learned
about first- and second-person singular and plural. All these verbs conjugate just like gustar,
using indirect-object pronouns and the third-person singular and plural forms. Table 6-1
shows the most commonly used gustar look-alikes along with their meanings.
Table 6-1 Verbs Conjugated in the Third Person with Indirect Objects
Spanish Verb Translation
disgustar to be repugnant to
encantar to be enchanting to
faltar to be lacking to
fascinar to be fascinating to
importar to be important to
interesar to be interesting to
molestar to bother
parecer to seem; to appear to
The -ar verbs above use either the endings -a or -an. The verb parecer, which is the only -er
verb, uses the endings -e or -en.
76 Part II: Exploring Some Exceptional Exceptions
Using all of the verbs from Table 6-1 and the verb gustar, translate the following sentences
into Spanish. Here’s an example to get you started:
I love pizza. = A mí me encanta el pizza.
6. Chess is interesting to Juana.
__________________________________________________________________________________
7. They are fascinated by birds.
__________________________________________________________________________________
8. The students need books. (Books are lacking to the students.)
__________________________________________________________________________________
9. The Italian restaurant seems very good to us.
__________________________________________________________________________________
10. It is very important to me to work a lot.
__________________________________________________________________________________
11. The boys like playing soccer. (Playing soccer is pleasing to the boys.)
__________________________________________________________________________________
12. He is lacking enough money to go (in order to go) to Europe.
__________________________________________________________________________________
13. My father is enchanted by classical music.
__________________________________________________________________________________
14. Lola is bothered by her younger brothers every day.
__________________________________________________________________________________
15. You (plural, formal) need pencils. Right?
__________________________________________________________________________________
Answer the following statements either C for cierto (true) or F for falso (false), based on
your beliefs, likes, and dislikes. Here’s an example:
C A mí me gustan los conciertos de rock. (I like rock concerts.)
16. _____ A mí me encanta la música clásica.
17. _____ A mí me gusta ir a la playa en el verano.
18. _____ A mí me fascina el álgebra.
Chapter 6: Declaring Your Likes and Dislikes with Gustar 77
19. _____ A mí me molestan los niños difíciles.
20. _____ A mí me interesa la política.
21. _____ A mí me importa mucho votar.
22. _____ A mí me parece fácil la química.
23. _____ A mí me fascina viajar a lugares diferentes.
24. _____ A mí me disgustan las películas de horror.
25. _____ A mí me interesan mucho los museos de arte.
