Verb ‘to like’ - Gustar in Spanish: It’s Not What You Think!

Me gusta la sandía. - I like watermelon.

When learning Spanish, one of the first verbs that often confuses English speakers is gustar. At first glance, it seems like a simple way to say “I like” – but grammatically, it's quite different from English.

Let’s break it down in a way that finally makes sense.

What Does Gustar Really Mean?

While we often translate gustar as “to like,” a more accurate translation is:

"to be pleasing (to someone)"

So instead of saying:

• “I like pizza,”

  
  

Spanish says:

• “Pizza is pleasing to me” → Me gusta la pizza.

  
  

If we were to translate it literally it would say:

• “To me is pleasing the pizza” → Me gusta la pizza.

Weird right? But remember you should try to avoid translating literally

The Structure of Gustar

[Indirect Object Pronoun] + [form of gustar] + [thing that is liked]

Let’s break that down.

English	Spanish
I like chocolate.	Me gusta el chocolate.
You like books.	Te gustan los libros.
She likes music.	Le gusta la música.

The subject is NOT "me" — it's the thing that is liked!

• In Me gusta el chocolate, el chocolate is the subject.

• Me is just saying to me.

Let’s conjugate the verb GUSTAR – Present Tense

The verb gustar is only conjugated to agree with the thing being liked, not the person who likes it.

Subject of the sentence	Use this form of gustar
singular noun or verb	gusta
plural noun	gustan

Por ejemplo

• Me gusta la casa. (I like the house.)  - In singular because ‘casa’ is singular

• Nos gustan los perros. (We like dogs.) - In plural because ‘perros’ is plural

Indirect Object Pronouns

These go before the verb and tell us who likes something:

Pronoun	Meaning
me	to me
te	to you
le	to him/her/you (formal)
nos	to us
os	to you all (Spain)
les	to them/you all

Example:

• Les gustan los libros. → They like books.

Notice: When when using a noun (e.g. libros) with the verb gustar you must always place the article ‘the’ (el, la, los, las) after the verb & infront of the noun. Except when using names of places. 

E.g. Me gusta Perú. - I like Peru.

Common Mistake: Mixing up Subject and Object

❌ Yo gusto pizza. (Wrong)

❌ Me gusto pizza. (Wrong)

 ✅ Me gusta la pizza. (Right)

Remember: You’re not doing the liking—the thing is pleasing to you.

Extra Tips

• Want to emphasize who likes something? Add in front "A mí, A ti, A él," etc.

• Are you changing person? Add in front "A mí, A ti, A él," etc.

• Or use the name instead of the pronoun "A Mario, A Juan y María, etc"

  
  

 ✅ A mí me gustan los gatos.

 ✅ A Juan le gusta el fútbol.

• But don’t use the personal pronouns (yo, tú, él, etc)

Pronoun	Pronoun	Meaning
A mí	me	to me
A ti	te	to you
A él / A ella / A usted	le	to him/her/you (formal)
A nosotros	nos	to us
A vosotros	os	to you all (Spain)
A ellos / A ellas / A ustedes	les	to them/you all

• For stronger emotion, add "mucho" or "muchísimo" after the verb

  • Me gusta mucho este libro. (I really like this book.)

  • Nos gustan muchísimo las películas de acción. (We love action movies.)

One step further

Do you know how to use the verb gustar followed by another verb? You will learn it in the next chapter.

In the meantime learn the pronouns that you need to use in each situation and create sentences using different nouns in singular and in plural.

Your Turn! Traduce esto / Translate this:

• They like tacos.

• I like apples.

• We like books about nature.

• She likes cars.

• He likes the film.