How should the verb "gustar" be used? What's special about it?

Gustar isn't a normal reflexive verb, although it might look a bit similar! Instead of saying "I like x", like we do in English, in Spanish we use the verb gustar to say that something pleases us. For example: I like football = me gusta el fútbol. Literally, this means football is pleasing to me. If you can remember the way that this phrase is structured then you'll get your head around it in no time at all! That means, then, that we need to change the verb gustar to fit whatever the thing we're talking about - and not according to who is the subject of the sentence! I like apples = me gustan las manzanas. Notice here how gustar is plural because we have more than one apple! To change who likes the thing that we're talking about, we just have to change 'me'. We can use 'te gusta(n)' / 'nos gusta(n)' to mean 'you like' and 'we like'. You'll learn more about that later!

KT
Answered by Kane T. Spanish tutor

2807 Views

See similar Spanish GCSE tutors

Related Spanish GCSE answers

All answers ▸

How do I know whether to use the imperfect or the preterite tense?


When should I use the preterite and the imperfect form of the past tense?


How do I know what gender a word is?


What are the different types of si clause?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

© MyTutorWeb Ltd 2013–2025

Terms & Conditions|Privacy Policy
Cookie Preferences