Grateful if someone can explain which is correct and why?
o Me gustaría unas camisetas nuevas.
o Me gustarían unas camisetas nuevas.
o Me gustaría unas camisetas nuevas.
o Me gustarían unas camisetas nuevas.
Me gustaría or Me gustarían?
posfr
February 27, 2018
Steven-W15
February 27, 2018
Hola posfr. Dan can probably explain this better than I can but I'll do my best here. The verb gustar has to be in agreement with what follows, so since "camisetas" is plural, it should be "gustarían": Me gustarían unas camisetas nuevas. It's a bit backwards from English. Try to think of it like the following:
- Some new shirts would please me.
- Unas camisetas nuevas me gustarían. or otherwise said:
- Me gustarían unas camisetas nuevas.
- Some new shirts would please me.
- Unas camisetas nuevas me gustarían. or otherwise said:
- Me gustarían unas camisetas nuevas.
Dan-H24
February 27, 2018
I cannot explain this any better than Steven. I will only add that there is an entire list of verbs that act like gustar. And they all use this reverse (to the English mind).
Here is a link to a good article on the subject.
https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/verbs-like-gustar
Dan
Here is a link to a good article on the subject.
https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/verbs-like-gustar
Dan
posfr
February 28, 2018
Hola Dan and Steven. Thank you for your comments. What you have said agrees 100% with my understanding. However, there's a minor snag - RS Lesson 1.10 gives (under one of the Por ejemplo sections) the example:
Me gustaría unas camisetas nuevas.
Doh! Perhaps we haven't got to the bottom of this yet! After posting this question to this forum, I attended a Spanish class and asked our teacher (who is a native Spanish speaker from Peru) about it. I only got a partial answer and so I need to talk some more with her next week. She said somewhat vaguely that both (gustaría and gustarían) could be correct! Doh! However, she did draw a distinction between:
Me gustan las camisetas,
where the speaker is expressing that he/she likes the specific T-shirt things that he/she is referring to and:
Me gustaría / gustarían unas camisetas nuevas,
in which he/she expresses a wish to obtain some (non-specific) new ones. Does this mean that the rules are different? I don't know!!
Interesting additional information, maybe, but I still can't satisfactorily explain "Me gustaría unas camisetas nuevas" to myself.
Grateful for any further thoughts.
Regards, Franz
Me gustaría unas camisetas nuevas.
Doh! Perhaps we haven't got to the bottom of this yet! After posting this question to this forum, I attended a Spanish class and asked our teacher (who is a native Spanish speaker from Peru) about it. I only got a partial answer and so I need to talk some more with her next week. She said somewhat vaguely that both (gustaría and gustarían) could be correct! Doh! However, she did draw a distinction between:
Me gustan las camisetas,
where the speaker is expressing that he/she likes the specific T-shirt things that he/she is referring to and:
Me gustaría / gustarían unas camisetas nuevas,
in which he/she expresses a wish to obtain some (non-specific) new ones. Does this mean that the rules are different? I don't know!!
Interesting additional information, maybe, but I still can't satisfactorily explain "Me gustaría unas camisetas nuevas" to myself.
Grateful for any further thoughts.
Regards, Franz
posfr
February 28, 2018
Regarding "Me gustaría unas camisetas nuevas", I've just had another thought bubble - immediately after putting the pen down, as it were.
How about this for a theory:
(1) gustaría is in the first person singular: yo gustaría (the subject is yo);
(2) unas camisetas nuevas is direct object;
(3) Me is indirect object.
Thus, something like:
o I would like some new T-shirts for myself.
I can half buy this, maybe!
How about this for a theory:
(1) gustaría is in the first person singular: yo gustaría (the subject is yo);
(2) unas camisetas nuevas is direct object;
(3) Me is indirect object.
Thus, something like:
o I would like some new T-shirts for myself.
I can half buy this, maybe!
Steven-W15
February 28, 2018
No, that doesn't sound right - it flies in the face of everything I've learned. I'll need to hear more details from native speakers...
Dan-H24
February 28, 2018
I tried to answer this earlier, but couldn't find a logical solution either.
¡He estado esperando que salves el día!
¡He estado esperando que salves el día!
Steven-W15
March 1, 2018
Me haces reír, amigo. Esperabas un salvador y aparecí yo con nada en la mano (sin mencionar en la cabeza). Bueno, en lo referente a esa construcción gramática, necesito entender de más de un hablante nativo para cambiarme las ideas. Todo el mundo puede estar equivocado y lo que nuestro querido posfr propuso de su contacto me parece extraño.
Dan-H24
March 1, 2018
Esta mañana hablé con mi compañera in España por Skype. La pregunté sobre la pregunta de posfr. Ella dijo que "Me gustaría unas camisetas nuevas" es correcto, y nunca ha oído "me gustarían" usado en esto contexto.
the-hefay
March 1, 2018
Grammatically speaking, you have to use gustarían for the shirts. This would be the plural form. It's also worth noting that this would not be the first error in a RS lesson. Nor will it be the last.
In regards to posfr's theory, the subject is the shirts. That is, the shirts would be pleasing to me. That is how gustar works.
In regards to opinions of native speakers, my wife said you could use either. However, when I pressed her about it, she said that gustar needed to be plural if the subject is plural. That being said, there are probably native speakers that incorrectly use the singular when the grammar calls for the plural. Of course we see the same thing in English with native speakers that don't really know English grammar. So this shouldn't be too much of a surprise when native speakers themselves don't speak good grammar.
In regards to posfr's theory, the subject is the shirts. That is, the shirts would be pleasing to me. That is how gustar works.
In regards to opinions of native speakers, my wife said you could use either. However, when I pressed her about it, she said that gustar needed to be plural if the subject is plural. That being said, there are probably native speakers that incorrectly use the singular when the grammar calls for the plural. Of course we see the same thing in English with native speakers that don't really know English grammar. So this shouldn't be too much of a surprise when native speakers themselves don't speak good grammar.
Steven-W15
March 2, 2018
Many thanks, Jeff. (That saved me from pulling out the little remaining hair I have left and, btw, belated congrats on your marriage - I'll write to that in the near future.)
Dan-H24
March 2, 2018
¡Gracias Jeff! Tu explanación tiene sentido. Una buena discussión y también revisar de los verbos como gustar.
Dan
Dan
the-hefay
March 2, 2018
De nada amigos. Y gracias Esteban por las felicitaciones.
Voy a ver mi suegro en la noche y le preguntaré. Era maestro de gramática y debería tener una respuesta buena. Solo he de acordarme. Dicen que la memoria es la primera cosa que sale. jajaja
Voy a ver mi suegro en la noche y le preguntaré. Era maestro de gramática y debería tener una respuesta buena. Solo he de acordarme. Dicen que la memoria es la primera cosa que sale. jajaja
the-hefay
March 3, 2018
The father-in-law says that here in Perú they use the singular forms of gustaría and gustará with plural subjects and it's acceptable and very common. So, there you have it, maybe. It sounds to me like you can use either one and be okay.