gustaron

Gustaron is a Spanish verb form used in the preterite tense to express that several things were pleasing to someone in the past. It is the third-person plural form of gustar, whose grammatical structure places the thing that is liked as the subject and the person who experiences the liking as the indirect object.

In Spanish, gustar is an impersonal-type verb whose forms change according to what is liked, not according to who likes it. The singular preterite form is gustó, used with a single object or infinitive, while gustaron is used with plural nouns or plural clauses. The person who experiences the feeling is conveyed with indirect object pronouns me, te, le, nos, os, les, often clarified with a phrase like “a mí” or “a ellos.”

Common constructions include: “Me gustaron las canciones” (I liked the songs), “A María le gustaron las películas” (Maria liked the movies), and “¿Te gustaron los regalos?” (Did you like the gifts?). Negative and interrogative forms follow the same pattern: “No me gustaron las ideas,” “¿Les gustaron las ideas?”

Gustar can take noun phrases, infinitives, or clauses as the thing that pleased someone. The verb’s meaning is closely tied to taste or preference, and its use is widespread in everyday Spanish. Etymologically, gustar comes from Latin gustus, related to tasting.