Gustar Lesson

“Gustar” is a different kind of verb. “gustar” means “to please”. So if I say “Me gusta” it means “it pleases me” or “I like it”. If you say “Me gusto” that would mean “I please myself.” “Te gusta” means “it pleases you” or “You like it”. “te gustas” would mean “you please yourself” or “you like yourself.

To form sentences using “gustar” choose the indirect object pronoun that represents the person who is doing the liking:

(yo) me

(tú) te

(él) le

(ella) le

(usted) le

(nosotros) nos

(ellos/ellas) les

(ustedes) les

Now you choose either “gusta” or “gustan”. If it is one thing that is being liked or if it is an activity being liked you use “gusta”. If it is more than one thing being liked you use “gustan”.

Me gusta= I like
Te gusta = you like
Le gusta= he/she/ ot it likes
Nos gusta= we like
Les gusta= they like
Les gusta = (All of you) like

Please note that a prepositional phrase can be used before sentences using “gustar” to emphasize who is doing the “liking”. The above sentences are shown below with the prepositional phrase added:

A mí me gusta…= I like…
A ti te gusta… = You like…
A él or ella or useted le gusta…= He/she/ or you formal likes…
A nosotros/as nos gusta= We like…
A ellos or ustedes les gusta…= They or all of you like…

Example sentences:

Me gusta cantar= I like to sing.
Te gusta bailar. = You like to dance.
A ella le gusta caminar a su clase.= She likes to walk to her class.
Nos gusta comer. = We like to eat.
A ellos les gusta trabajar en la oficina. = They like to work in the office

Now if what you like is plural (There is more than one thing that you like) the conjugation of “gustar” changes. It goes from “gusta” to “gustan”. Example:

I like my cars. = A mi me gustan los carros.
She likes her classes. = A ella le gustan sus clases.

You can also use “Gustar” and verbs like it in the past tense too.

I liked my cars. = Me gustaron los carros.
She liked her classes. = A ella le gustaron las clases.
I liked my car. = A mi me gustó el carro.
She liked her class. = A ella le gustó su clase.

There are other verbs that follow this pattern. “Aburrir” and “Encantar” are examples of these kinds of verbs.

Me aburre = It bores me.
Te aburre = It bores you.
Le aburre = It bores he.
Nos aburre = It bores us.
Les aburre = It bores them or ustedes.

“Aburrir” means “to bore” so “Me aburre la clase.” means “The class bores me.” “Me aburren las clases.” means “The classes bore me.”

To speak in the past you could say, “A ella le aburrió el programa.” and it means, “She was bored by the program.”