The Verb Gustar

One of the biggest leaps of faith that one needs to make when learning a new language, is not only absorbing new vocabulary, but also accepting a different way that ideas and thoughts are expressed. One of the first verbs that students learn where their brain must be reprogrammed is the verb gustar, which means "to please", or "to be pleasing".

The issue with this verb is that it is almost always associated with the phrase gustarle a alguien, which means literally "to be pleasing to someone". Now, in English it's quite possible to say

I like pizza.

However, the Spanish language doesn't have a verb that is equivalent to English's "to like". Instead they use the verb gustar ("to please" or "to be pleasing"). This verb is centered around the object being liked, and not the subject of the sentence. Observe, if you dare:

I like chimichangas.
Me gustan chimichangas.

Here, "chimichangas" are the objects that are being liked, so we conjugate the verb gustar to fit the third person plural object of "the chimichangas". Another example:

I like you.
Me gustas.

If the thing being liked is a verb, then you treat it as a third person singular. So,

I like to teach.
Me gusta enseñar.

A way to rewire your brain to accept this unusual syntax is by rewriting the sentence to be translated to fit the following formula:

Indirect Object Pronoun + gustar(conjugated to fit object) + object

Take the sentence "My mom likes the films of Michael Douglas." Rewrite it, in English, so it fits the above formula, like this:

To my Mom they are pleasing the films of Michael Douglas.

Don't worry if it doesn't make complete sense, or if it sounds weird.

In this instance we'll use the third person singular indirect object pronoun le to substitute for "To my Mom...". Then, let's conjugate the gustar verb to fit the object, which is the third person plural noun "the films of Michael Douglas". So, we're left with the finished product:

Le gustan las películas de Michael Douglas.

In this case, too, it's best to clarify the third person indirect object pronoun in order to avoid ambiguity (because third person indirect object pronouns can either mean "to him", "to her", or "to it".) So, to be sure everybody knows that we're talking about my Mom, we'll add "A mi mamá" in the front of the sentence, so we're left with

A mi mamá le gustan las películas de Michael Douglas.

Other common expressions that follow the same pattern as gustarle a alguien are listed below. Keep in mind they offer different meaning than their English counterparts. For example, encantarle a alguien means literally "to enchant or to be enchanting" to someone, but is used to express "to love something":

encantarle a alguien to love something
Me encanta el Ford Mustang.
I love the Ford Mustang.


entusiasmarle a alguien to be excited about something
¿Te entusiasma el viaje en el avión?
Are you excited about the trip in the airplane?


faltarle a alguien to be missing something, not to have something
Me faltan mis llaves.
I'm missing my keys.

importarle a alguien to care about something, to mind
Nos importa levantar temprano.
It's important to us to get up early.

interesarle a alguien to be interested in something
¿El libro te interesa?
Is the book interesting to you?

tocarle a alguien to be someone's turn
Mi amor, te toca echar la basura.
Honey, it's your turn to take out the garbage.


Sigue estudiando,

Professor Joel