Gustar - Part 2

In my last post about Gustar, I covered some of the basics that you need to know. In this post we're going to put the finishing touches on our look at gustar.

We now know that gustar changes it's meaning to one of physical attraction when you use it in reference to people. But there is an exception to this. If you're talking about people you don't personally know, like public or celebrity figures, authors, atheletes and the like, it reverts back to it's meaning of "to please". 

Me gusta Angelina Jolie - I like Angelia Jolie

¿Te gusta Micheal Jackson? - Do you like Micheal Jackson?

¿Le gusta George Lopez? - Does he/she like George Lopez?

Easy enough right?

Now let's look at one last quirk with gustar. It's conjugated a little differently when you talk about more than one thing or person. I touched on this just a little in my last post with the example:

Me gustan a ellas - I find them attractive.

Now let's look at this in more detail. Remember the example "Me gusta el libro"? We're only talking about one book, so we use "gusta". But if you need to talk about more than one book, we need to make a minor change to our example:

Me gustan los libros - The books are pleasing to me, or I like the books

Notice the "n" - gustaN instead of gusta. Anytime you want to talk about more than one of something, you need to use gustan. Let's look at some contrasting examples:

Me gusta el carro - I like the car

Me gustan los carros - I like the cars

Me gusta la camisa - I like the shirt

Me gustan las camisas - I like the shirts

Pretty simple eh? Just remember that whatever it is you like also has to be in the plural form.

That's pretty much it!

Now, I haven't covered every single detail of the verb gustar, but I've covered all of the "big ticket" items you need to help you start using this sometimes tricky but very necessary Spanish verb.

If you find yourself confused by any of the grammar surrounding gustar, don't worry about it. Just remember that gusta is for one of something, and gustan for more than one. Of course gustar has the same conjugations as other verbs, but I imagine you will find yourself using the forms gusta and gustan far more than the others. With that in mind, memorize these two forms, use them as much as possible, and sooner or later it's all going to make sense, including the grammar, ¡Les prometo! (I promise)

I mentioned this in my first post, but it's worth repeating.  If you want to really master the verb Gustar, then take a look at a course called Learning Spanish Like Crazy 2.  The course has over 30 lessons with 3 of them dedicated to the verb Gustar and other verbs that work in the same fashion.   If you're learning Spanish on your own, then you definitely want to take a look at it. 

¡Nos vemos!

Gustar - Part 1

Gustar is one of those verbs that frustrated me for a very long time. I'd be fooling myself (and lying to you) if I said I've now mastered it 100%. But I have learned quite a bit and I want to share a little of that knowledge with you.

First things first, what does gustar mean to begin with? Well, typically it's defined as "to like". This is a pretty accurate and fair translation. Most of the time. Yes, I can imagine many of you are arching your eyebrows right now, thinking "what do you mean, most of the time?". As always, let's look at some examples.

Me gusta el libro - I like the book

Me gusta el cuarto - I like the room

Te gusto - I like you.

Simple enough, what's the big deal you ask? Well, this is where things start to get sticky, because our third example has been translated completely wrong.

Despite the fact we've been taught gustar means "to like", you will eventually be led astray with that definition. Instead think of gustar to mean "to be pleasing". Once you do that, you'll never be led astray.

Let's look at our third example again, this time with our new translation.

Te gusto - "I please you", or more accurately said in English, "you like me".

Much better, and this translation works for our other examples as well...

Me gusta el libro - The book is pleasing to me, or I like the book

Me gusta el cuarto - The room is pleasing to me, or I like the room.

But we're not quite out of the woods yet. Let's take another look at our third (Te gusto) example, right after I clue you in on a small, but very important detail.

If you're talking about objects or thing like books, movies, clothes, etc., the translation "to please" works quite well. But once you start talking about people, everything changes. Gustar then takes on an entirely new meaning - physical attraction. A detail some explanations of Gustar omit.

With that little detail in mind, let's revisit our third example.

Te gusto - Do you find me attractive?

Let's look at a few more...

Me gustas (mucho) - You are (very) pleasing to me, or I think you're (very) attractive.

Me gustan ellas - They are pleasing to me, or They're attractive to me. And remember, we're talking about a group of ladies, as indicated by the use of ellas.

Well, I think that's enough for one post. Wait...I almost forgot. If you want to tell someone you like them in the plutonic sense, then you need to use caer bien, which I'll talk about another day.

Hopefully this post gave you a little more insight into understaning and using the verb gustar. Of course there's always more to say, but Rome wasn't built in a day, so just take this in and meditate on it for a while.

¡Cuídense!

***Note: Be sure to read Gustar Part 2.  Also, if you really want to really master the verb Gustar, then take a look at a course called Learning Spanish Like Crazy 2.  The course has over 30 lessons with 3 of them dedicated to the verb Gustar and other verbs that work in the same fashion.   If you're learning Spanish on your own, then you definitely want to take a look at it.