A2

Home · A2 · Gustos y Preferencias

Gustos y Preferencias

CEFR A2 · Lesson 8 of 9

Gustar doesn't work like a normal verb — once you see the pattern behind "me gusta," a whole family of verbs falls into place.

The core idea

Gustar literally means "to be pleasing to" — so "I like coffee" is really structured as "coffee is pleasing to me." The verb agrees with the thing being liked, not with the person.

Indirect object pronouns + gustar
PronounMeaningExample
meto meme gusta el café
teto you (informal)te gusta el café
leto him/her/you (formal)le gusta el café
nosto usnos gusta el café
osto you all (Spain)os gusta el café
lesto them/you allles gusta el café

Singular vs. plural: gusta / gustan

  • One thing liked (singular noun) or an infinitivegusta: Me gusta el café. / Me gusta leer.
  • More than one thing liked (plural noun)gustan: Me gustan los libros.

Even with several infinitives together, gustar stays singular: Me gusta leer y escribir.

Adding "a + person" for clarity or emphasis

Because le and les can refer to more than one person, Spanish often adds "a + name/pronoun" up front to clarify or emphasize:

A Juan le gusta el fútbol.Juan likes soccer.
A mí me gusta el té, pero a ella le gusta el café.I like tea, but she likes coffee.

Other verbs that work just like gustar

  • encantar — to love (things): Me encanta la música.
  • interesar — to interest: Le interesan las ciencias.
  • molestar — to bother: Nos molesta el ruido.
  • doler — to hurt: Me duele la cabeza.
  • importar — to matter: No me importa la hora.
  • faltar — to be missing/lacking: Le faltan dos dólares.
💡

Quick trick: ask "what's doing the liking" — that's your subject, and it decides gusta vs. gustan. The person is never the grammatical subject, so it never controls the verb ending.

⚠️

Common mistake: never say "yo gusto" to mean "I like" — that would mean "I am likable/pleasing." Always use the indirect object pronoun: me gusta.

Practice

Check your understanding

1.Me ___ el café. (I like coffee.)

2.Me ___ los libros de aventuras. (I like adventure books.)

3.A Juan ___ gusta el fútbol. (missing pronoun)

4.Choose the correct form: "Me ___ leer y escribir."

5.A nosotros ___ gusta viajar. (missing pronoun)

6.Choose the correct pronoun: "A mis padres ___ gusta la música clásica."

7.Me ___ (encantar) la música en vivo.

8.Me ___ (doler) la cabeza. (My head hurts.)

9.A ella le ___ (interesar) las ciencias.

10.True or false: "yo gusto el chocolate" correctly means "I like chocolate."

11.Nos ___ (molestar) el ruido por la noche.

12.Choose the phrase for emphasis: "___ me gusta el té, pero a ella le gusta el café."

Ready to practice this out loud?

Book a class with Ángel and talk about what you really like — and don't.

Book on Preply