gustar

Gustar is a Spanish verb meaning “to be pleasing (to someone).” It is used to express that something is liked by someone, but the construction in Spanish is different from English: the thing that is liked is the subject of the clause, and the person who experiences the liking is indicated with an indirect object pronoun.

The basic construction uses an indirect object pronoun (me, te, le, nos, os, les) followed by the verb form gusta or gustan, and then the thing that is pleasing. The verb agrees with the subject of the clause, which is the thing being liked. For example, “Me gusta el cine” means “The cinema is pleasing to me,” i.e., I like the cinema. If the thing is plural, the form changes to gustan: “Me gustan las películas de ciencia ficción.”

Gustar is often used with infinitives and nouns. With an infinitive, it can express what someone likes to do: “Me gusta leer.” With explicit nouns, number agreement follows the thing’s plurality: “A ella le gustan las manzanas.”

Common forms and usage notes:

- The indirect object pronouns are me, te, le, nos, os, les. Emphasis can be added with “a mí,” “a ti,” etc., as in “A mí me gusta.”

- Negation places no before the pronoun: “No me gusta.”

- In questions: “¿Te gusta?”

- The verb can appear in different tenses: “me gustó” (preterite), “me gustaba” (imperfect), “ha gustado” (present perfect).

- A related, more expressive form is “me gustaría,” a conditional meaning “I would like.”

Gustar belongs to a class of verbs (interesar, encantar, etc.) that describe what is pleasing or interesting to someone, rather than describing the subject performing the action.