GUSTAR and Verbs Like It

GUSTAR and Verbs Like It
Likes and dislikes
Using GUSTAR
 GUSTAR means “to be pleasing”
 So, keeping that in mind only things
or activities can be pleasing.
 The verb endings that correspond to
things and activities would only be
the 3rd person.
 In the case of GUSTAR the only verb
forms applicable are "gusta" and
"gustan"
Using GUSTAR, con’t.
 The second part of the issue is stating
to whom the thing or action is
pleasing and that to whom refers to
people.
 The way to express that is using an
object pronoun.
 If it is pleasing to "yo" then the
object pronoun to use is "me"
Object pronouns w/GUSTAR
 The other pronouns are like this:
 Pleasing to…
 “tú” uses the object pronoun “te”
 “vosotros” uses the object pronoun “os”
 “nosotros” uses the object pronoun “nos”
Object pronouns w/GUSTAR, con’t.
 The “él, ella, Ud., ellos, ellas, Uds.” have an object
pronoun but also need a prepositional phrase
preceding it.
 Pleasing to:






“él”
“A él, le…”
“ella”
“A ella, le…”
“Ud.”
“A Ud., le…”
“ellos”
“A ellos, les…”
“ellas”
“A ellas, les…”
“Uds.”
“A Uds., les…”
The GUSTAR construction
 Putting the two together can turn out in one of
three ways:
 object pronoun + gusta + singular noun


Me gusta el libro.
I like the book. (The book is pleasing to me)
 object pronoun + gustan + plural noun

Me gustan los libros.

I like the books. (The books are pleasing to me.)
 object pronoun + gusta + infinitive verb (s)


Me gusta leer el libro.
I like to read the book. (Reading the book is pleasing to
me.)
More examples…
 object pronoun + gusta + singular noun




Te gusta el libro.
You like the book. (inf.)
A él le gusta el libro.
He likes the book.
A ella le gusta el libro.
She likes the book.
A Ud. le gusta el libro.
You like the book. (for.)




Nos gusta el libro.
We like the book.
Os gusta el libro.
Y’all like the book. (inf.)
A ellos les gusta el libro.
They like the book.
A ellas les gusta el libro.
They like the book. (f.)
 A Uds. Les gusta el libro.
(for.)
You all like the book.
And more examples…
 object pronoun + gustan + plural noun
 Te gustan los libros.
You like the books. (inf.)
 A él le gustan los libros.
He likes the books.
 A ella le gustan los libros.
She likes the books.
 A Ud. le gustan los libros.
You like the books. (for.)





Nos gustan los libros.
We like the books.
Os gustan los libros.
Y’all like the books. (inf.)
A ellos les gustan los libros.
They like the books.
A ellas les gustan los libros.
They like the books. (f.)
A Uds. Les gustan los libros.
You all like the books.
(for.)
And, a few more examples…
 object pronoun + gusta + infinitive verb
 Te gusta leer el libro.
You like to read the book. (inf.)
 A él le gusta leer el libro.
He likes to read the book.
 A ella le gusta leer el libro.
She likes to read the book.
 A Ud. le gusta leer el libro.
You like to read the book.
(for.)
 Nos gusta leer el libro.
We like to read the book.
 Os gusta leer el libro.
Y’all like to read the book. (inf.)
 A ellos les gusta leer el libro.
They like to read the
book.
 A ellas les gusta leer el libro.
They like to read the
book. (f.)
 A Uds. Les gusta leer el libro.
You all like to read the
book. (for.)
Other prepositional phrases
 For emphasis, prepositional phrases
can be added to the “me”, “te”, “nos”
and “os”:




A
A
A
A
mí me…
ti te…
nosotros nos…
vosotros os…
 Ex. A mí me gusta el libro…
 I like the book…
Other info.
 Sometimes, you really want to
emphasize how much you like
something.
 Use “mucho” which means “ a lot”
 Me gusta mucho el libro.
 I like the book a lot.
 Keep in mind where “mucho” is
placed in the sentence.
Other info., con’t.
 Sometimes you may not like
something.
 Simply place a “no” in the sentence.
 No me gusta el libro.
 I don’t like the book.
 Keep in mind where “no” is placed in
the sentence.
Other info., con’t.
 Sometimes you can combine the two
(“no” and “mucho”) in one sentence.
 No me gusta mucho el libro.
 I don’t like the book very much.
 Keep in mind where “no” and
“mucho” are placed in the sentence.
Other verbs that function like
GUSTAR

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FASCINAR - to fascinate
INTERESAR- to interest
ENCANTAR- to love(enchant)
MOLESTAR- to bother
AGRADAR-to please
APETECER- to fancy
IMPORTAR- to matter
Conclusión.
 The verb GUSTAR agrees with the subject
of the sentence and that is a thing or
activity, not a person.
 The object pronoun or prepositional
phrase + object pronoun agree with who
is being pleased by the thing or activity,
and that is a person.
 GUSTAR does not translate literally to
English!