How To Use The Spanish Verb 'gustar' Correctly

In Spanish, there is no literal equivalent to the English verb 'to like', in fact the nearest in both meaning and, more importantly, in the way that it is used, is the verb 'gustar', which literally translated means 'to please'.

To emphasize this; if you were to say in English, 'I like my coffee strong', the Spanish equivalent, when translated, would be 'Strong coffee pleases me'.

The use of the verb 'gustar' is actually very simple compared to other Spanish verbs.

'Gustar' doesn't follow any of the traditional Spanish verb patterns, whether they are regular or irregular, and it is only ever used in the third person forms, irrespective of the tense.

The construction of a sentence using the verb 'gustar' is done so in the opposite way as it is done in English. I will explain in good old grammatical terms; the English subject becomes the indirect object and the English object becomes the subject.

Now to put that into English that everyone will understand!

If you look at the example 'I like my coffee strong' again you will see that 'I' is the subject of the sentence and 'coffee' is the object.

In Spanish you would say, 'Strong coffee pleases me', where 'coffee' becomes the subject and 'me' is now the indirect object.

As I have said, 'gustar' is only used in the third person and the reason for this is that it relates to what is liked rather than whom or what likes it.

If what is liked is singular or, if it is an action that is liked, you would use 'gusta'; and if what is liked is plural you would use 'gustan'.

The present tense singular and plural forms of 'gustar' look like this:

Me gusta - gustanI like or, I like it
Te gusta - gustanYou like or, you like it
Le gusta - gustanHe/She/You like (it)
Nos gustaWe like...or, we like it
Os gusta - gustanYou like...or, you like it
Les gusta - gustanThey/you like (it)

Here are some examples:

Me gusta el deporte I like sport
Nos gusta EspanaWe like Spain
A Juan le gusta cocinar.Juan likes cooking.

And in the plural:

Me gustan los deportesI like sports
Nos gustan las naranjasWe like oranges
Les gustan los perrosThey like the dogs.

Gustar isn't the only Spanish verb that is used in the this way, encantar 'to enchant or love', apetecer 'to fancy or crave for', quedar 'to stay or remain', faltar 'to be missing', parecer 'to seem', and doler 'to hurt,ache or mourn' are a few of the common verbs that are used in the same way.