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language resource center |
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Salem State College | Department of Foreign Languages | Language Resource Center
| Verbs like GUSTAR |
By Dr. Jon Aske
GUSTAR, "to like", is a verb that gives learners a lot of trouble. Spend some time understanding the behavior of this verb, and many others like it, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble later on.
The main thing to understand is that GUSTAR, although it translates the English verb LIKE, works more like PLEASE. Look at the following two sentences:
a) My brother likes this book
b) This book is pleasing to my brother
Although the two sentences mean similar things, in (a) the LIKER (the experiencer, that is, "my brother") is the SUBJECT of the sentence wheres the LIKED (the thing that is experienced, that is, "this book") is the DIRECT OBJECT. In (b), on the other hand, the LIKER is not the subject but the complement of the preposition TO, the INDIRECT OBJECT, and the LIKED is the SUBJECT.
Both of these sentences could be translated by GUSTAR into Spanish.
c) Este libro le gusta a mi hermano
That is, the LIKED is the SUBJECT and the LIKER is the object of the preposition A, the INDIRECT OBJECT (typically a recipient or experiencer of the action, event or state).
If it only was that simple, right? But it is. You just have to remember a couple of things and you will fully understand this construction:
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Mandatory Indirect Object Pronouns |
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In Spanish the INDIRECT OBJECT must be coded by a pronoun (me, te, le, nos, os, les) next to the verb, le in the example above, whether or not there is a prepositional phrase, such as A MI HERMANO, in the sentence. When it is clear who the LIKER is, the prepositional phrase is left out, as in (d) below, but the pronoun can never be left out:
d) Le gusta este libro "he/she/you(usted) like(s) this book |
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Flexible Word Order |
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Unlike in English, in Spanish the order of SUBJECT, DIRECT OBJECT, INDIRECT OBJECT, and other complements of the verb is rather flexible and with verbs like gustar the most common order is not the order in (c) above but rather the order in (d) below: d) A mi hermano le gusta este libro |
Below you can see a chart with different options for subject and indirect object. The order here is the most common one, but remember that it is not the only one possible.
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EXPERIENCER/LIKER |
LIKER |
VERB |
THING EXPERIENCED/LIKED |
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A mí |
me |
gusto |
yo |
Thus you can come up with many different sentences, such as:
Me gustas "I like you"
Te gusto "You like me"
Les gustamos "They/you(ustedes) like us"
Nos gusta el profesor "We like the teacher"
Other verbs that work like GUSTAR
There are many verbs that work like gustar in Spanish, and they are all very common verbs, so it is a good idea to learn this construction early.
Some of the verbs that work like GUSTAR in Spanish are like LIKE in English. That is, the grammatical relations do not match. Other verbs, however, are like PLEASE in English. That is, the grammatical relations in Spanish and English match.
Even when the grammatical relations match, however, we have to contend with the differences in WORD ORDER and the obligatory CLITIC PRONOUN (the little pronouns that go NEXT to the verb in Spanish, typically before the verb: me, te, etc.).
- encantar = gustar mucho
- fascinar = gustar muchísimo
- importar = to matter (to someone); to care
- molestar = to bother
- doler = to hurt
- faltar = to be lacking, to be missing, to need
me encantó la película
"I loved the movie", "I really liked the movie"
A mis padres les fascinó mi novia
"My parents really liked my girlfriend"
me importas mucho
"I care about you", "You matter to me"
me molestan los ruidos
"The noises bother me"
nos duele la cabeza
"Our heads hurt (us)"
Al profesor le faltan dos libros
"the teacher is missing two books" "The teacher still needs two more books"