gustar

Despite having taken four years of Spanish in high school, I still had a fuzzy understanding of direct pronouns, indirect pronouns, and reflexive verbs. In addition to that mush, I thought that gustar is a reflexive verb. I also thought it meant "to like something". Now I always knew that if I want to say "I like this class", one says "me gusta esta clase". However, if I had to say "I like these flowers", I would say without thinking "me gusta las flores". Many of you know that is wrong. I should have said "me gustan los flores". Why? Well, I now know that gustar really translates to "to be pleasing". So, when I want to say "I like these flowers", I need to first say what I am really trying to say in Spanish: these flowers are pleasing to me. The subject is "these flowers" and the indirect object is "me". So, the third person plural conjugation is called for and thus "me gustan las flores". Also, to say "I like you", I would say "you are pleasing to me" and thus "me gustas tú".

What is the difference between a reflexive verb or a non reflexive verb or any other verb for that matter? I was just listening to a you tube video of direct and indirect object pronouns and he started talking about direct and indirect object verbs. Maybe he was just trying to make a point. Anyway, thanks for the above discussion on gustar as pleasing rather than like.

A verb is reflexive when the subject and object of the verb are the same. One example is llamarse (to call oneself). "Me llamo Roberto" - the subject is me and the object is also me via my name. I also noted in another thread that some verbs have reflexive and non-reflexive meanings. The verb gustar is not reflexive but is a completely different animal. For whatever reason, the subject of the sentence is what follows gustar. In the phrase "me gustas tú", the subject is tú and the indirect object is me. This is because the most precise English translation of this sentence is "You are pleasing to me." Now let us say you want to translate this sentence: You like me. To get the correct translation, you need to rephrase this as "I am pleasing to you". Now "I" am the subject and "you" are the indirect object. Thus, we say "te gusto". So, here are more examples with the optional part put in [brackets]. I like you = Me gustas [tú] You like me = Te gusto [yo] They like the present = [A ellos] les gusta el regalo He likes the flowers = [A él] le gustan los flores We like this restaurant = [A nosotros] nos gusta este restaurante In all of these sentences, the subject follows the verb and the indirect object precedes it. How many other verbs in Spanish behave this way? Does anybody have a list?

I was actually modifying my post when you were answering the thread. I realized that you answered my last question on your original post.

RobertC7: How do you answer these questions? It seems that gustar is different from your regular "AR" verbs. I copied these questions from the internet. I keep wanting to say yo gusto, tu gustas, el gusta, nosotros gustamos, vosotros gustais, ellos gustan. I know now that I should not conjugate it this way. I just am not sure why not? Answer the following questions: (For example, if I say: “¿A Silvia le gusta el café?” which means “Does Silvia like coffee?” and afterwards I say “Answer that she does”, you should say “Sí, le gusta el café” which means “Yes, she likes coffee”) 1. ¿Les gusta a ustedes el pescado? (answer that you do not) 2. ¿Te gusta el chocolate? (answer that you do) 3. ¿A tus amigos les gusta escuchar música? (answer that they do) 4. ¿Le gusta a usted la pizza? (answer that you do not) 5. ¿Qué le gusta a María? (la pasta) 6. ¿Qué les gusta a ustedes? (ver la televisión) 7. ¿Os gusta ir a la playa? (answer that you do not) 8. ¿Le gusta a Carlos ir al monte? (answer that he does)

Here are my answers with optional words put in [brackets]. If it disambiguates the sentence, I am not marking it optional. In questions 1, 6 and 7, they are asking a group of people whether they like something. In these sentence, the thing is pleasing to us. 1. [A nosotros] no nos les gusta el pescado. 2. Sí, [a yo] me gusta el chocolate. 3. Sí, a mis amigos les gusta escuchar música. 4. [A yo] no me gusta la pizza. 5. A María le gusta la pasta. 6. [A nosotros] nos gusta ver la televisión. 7. [A nosotros] no nos gusta ir a la playa. 8. Sí, a Carlos le gusta ir al monte. In all of these sentences, the subject is the thing (or things) being liked and the indirect object is the thing liking it.

I guess I'll just hold off gustar for a while until I am ready. What other verbs can you substitute gustar with using the same format?

Hola Aurora, Perhaps this link will help clarify things for you. I recommend sticking with gustar as it is used so frequently and you'll get it after awhile. ¡Buena suerte! http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/gustar.htm Saludos, Ricardo

P.S. Robert, The link I pasted has a list of some other verbs used like gustar.

Sorry to be the latecomer to this particular party. But partway up the thread "gustar" was being conjugated like a regular verb: gustas, gusto, gusta... If my understanding of gustar and its companions is correct, either the third person singular (gusta) or plural (gustan) is used, whichever agrees with the subject (what is pleasing.) I wanted to add this mostly to make sure my understanding is, in fact, correct.

Hola Dan, Your understanding of gustar is correct , as it it usually used in that way. Robert's examples of me gustas (tú) and te gusto (yo) have a different connotation than usual and imply attraction.The use of the verb caer meaning to like someone without the implication of attraction is also conjugated like a regular verb and that helped me to think about gustar being fully conjugated : "me caes bien Juan" Literally you fall well on me John.There is a RS grammar lesson that addresses this and until I came across this usage of gustar in one of the Platinum lessons, I was unfamiliar with it, as at times RS doesn't fill in the blanks. Amy notes that Mauricio use gustar in a different way. I think the lesson is titled "Just Friends". Saludos, Ricardo

From Rich link: Now that you know how to correctly use the verb gustar, here is a list of verbs that operate in the same manner: aburrir -to bore fascinar to be fascinating tobastar to be sufficient importer to be important tocaer bien (mal)to (not) suitinteresar to be interesting todar asco to be loathsome molestar to be a bother disgustar to hate something parecer to appear to bedoler (o:ue) to be painful picar to itch encantar to "love" something quedar to be left over, remain faltar to be lacking something volver (o:ue) loco to be crazy about

While thinking about this topic this morning I realized that whenever I have seen it discussed as a lesson, I think it has been used in the present tense. Me gusta café en la mañana. Can gustar also be used in other tenses, such as the imperfect? Me gustaba Kool Aid cuando era joven.

Perfecto. A mí nunca me había gustado Kool Aid.

Dan, Check gustar in The Big Red Book.

Rich: What does the The Big Red Book -(El libro de rojo largo) say about gustar?

Ricardo: Gracias! Ese libro es muy informativo.

Hola Dan, De nada, estoy de acuerdo, ese libro es indispensable. Aurora, The Red Book says: "regular "ar" verb; used in the third-person singular and plural with the indirect object pronoun". There is full page of the various tenses, too many to write out. This book has been invaluable to me and I recommend it highly. You can find it for sale online at a very low price. Saludos, Ricardo

Tienes razón, Ricardo. Ese libro es indispensable. Pero frequentamente uso un conjugador en linea se llama "Onoma," y olvido sobre el Libro Grande Rojo. Dan

No! Es una mujer muy bonita pero no me gusta tanto. No! She is a very pretty woman but I don't like her so much. I am not giving up on this verb gustar. "She" is the subject, "gusta" is the verb and "me" is the indirect object. There is no direct object. I don't want to wait to order the big red book before understanding this verb "gustar". I talked to Diana about this and she really can't explain it. Next Tuesday, I will see my Spanish tutor. Maybe she can shed the light on this. I actually am understanding it better than last week. I understand that "I like the book". Me gusta el libro. The libro is the subject, gusta is the verb, and Me is the indirect object. My thanks to Robert, Rich, Dan and Steven for all their input. It can't be this difficult. It's not brain surgery.

Aurora: It looks to me like you have it. Even though the practical translation of, for example, me gusta biesbol is I like baseball, I think it can help our understanding of how this and similar verbs work by thinking about the literal translation: baseball (the subject) pleases (the verb) me (the indirect object). I remember lesson 1.2 of Rocket Spanish, where Amy says, "Me llamo Amy." It looks so much like "my name is Amy" that it is very easy to start thinking that way right from the start. Getting past the idea of trying to translating Spanish to conform to the English sentence structure is really important and a big hurdle to clear.

I have seen Rocket Spanish use the conditional tense quite often. Me gustaría carne asada. This is a polite way of ordering something in a restaurant. >No! Es una mujer muy bonita pero no me gusta tanto. >No! She is a very pretty woman but I don't like her so much. This sentence is actually a compound sentence. It contains two independent clauses. There are two sentences bound together with 'but': "She is a very pretty woman" followed by "I don't like her so much". The two together form a compound sentence. In Spanish, we need to conjugate each independent clause as if each were standalone sentences.

The conditional seems like a "bonus" tense to me because it is relatively simple and straightforward: it uses the complete verb infinitive, has the same endings for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs (which are the same as the -er and -ir imperfect tense endings) and with the exception of some spell-changes in the "stem", is completely regular. After fighting with all of the irregularities in the preterite and sorting out preterite from imperfect, a well-deserved bonus, in my opinion! One time my Cuban friend told me to order in her restaurant by saying, "Quiero (whatever.) I asked if that was not too blunt and forward. She said no, at least not in her culture. I still feel more comfortable by saying, "Me gustaría (whatever.) Err on the side of being too polite, I think.