Hello there everyone! In our previous lesson about Spanish Verbs: Can (poder) and to know (saber) we learned two basic Spanish verbs. Time to learn something new! Today we’re learning how to express likes and dislikes in Spanish. When studying Spanish in Sucre, Quito and Cuzco, you’ll meet many new people from different countries and cultures and when making friends you’ll need to express the things you like and which you don’t so they can get to know you better.

By the end of the lesson, we’ll be able to talk with our friends and classmates about our likes and dislikes, feelings and interests and express what we like and what we don’t!

Verb gustar (“to like”)

But first things first. The main verb we use in Spanish to this end is “gustar” (to like). Take a look at this table and check how we form the verb gustar in Spanish.

“Me gusta mucho el chocolate” (I like chocolate too much) is a typical construction of an affirmative sentence in Spanish expressing likes. Remember the personal pronouns in Spanish?

As you have seen from the sentence above, when talking about likes and dislikes we DON’T USE personal pronouns.

Me gusta viajar ? / Yo gusta viajar ?
Te gusta cocinar ? / Tú gusta cocinar ?
Le gusta comer ? / Él/Ella gusta comer ?
Nos gusta la música ? / Nosotros gusta la música ?
Os gusta la casa ? / Vosotros gusta la casa ?
Les gusta la poesía ? / Ellos gusta la poesía ?

Besides those pronouns, we can use more personal pronouns in the sentence:

– A mí me gusta viajar

Personal pronouns starting with “a” are placed at the beginning of the sentence. The only difference between Me gusta viajar and A mí me gusta viajar is that by using the “A mí” you are reinforcing the idea and making it stronger or separating yourself from the opinions of others.

A tí te gusta cocinar ?
A él le gusta comer ?
A nosotros nos gusta la música ?
A vosotros os gusta la casa ?
A ellos les gusta la poesía ?

When using the pronouns starting by “a” they’ll always be accompanied by “me, te, le, nos…etc”.

A mí gusta cocinar ? / A mí me gusta cocinar ?

Uses of the verb “gustar”

If you have realized, til now we have seen how to express like with singular words. What if we want to express that we like more than one thing or one thing as a whole? Let’s see the uses of the verb “gustar”:

Me gusta correr → INFINITIVE VERB

Le gusta el coche → SINGULAR WORD (determiner + word)

Nos gustan los animales → PLURAL WORLD (determiner + word)

Pay attention to the plural and singular word forms. Words like “gente” (people) are singular even though they refer to many people at once.

Negative and interrogative sentences and how to answer questions with “gustar”

+ ¿Te gusta el queso? (Do you like cheese?)

– No, no me gusta/ Sí, sí me gusta

+ ¿A ella le gusta la montaña? (Does she like the mountain?)

– No, no le gusta / Sí, sí le gusta

+ ¿Os gusta tocar algún instrumento? (Do you play any instrument?)

– No, no nos gusta / Sí, sí nos gusta

+ ¿Les gustan los pájaros? (Do they like birds?)

– No, no les gustan / Sí, sí les gustan

What if we want to compare our likes and dislikes with others?

If you agree with someone:

– Me gusta viajar = A mí también/me too (if you both like it)
– No me gusta cocinar = A mí tampoco/ me neither (if you both don’t like it)

If you don’t agree with someone:

– Me gusta escribir = A mí no/ I don’t (if they like it but you don’t)
– No me gusta el rap = A mí sí/ I do (if they don’t like it but you do)

As always, we have prepared some interactive exercises for you to practice how much you’ve learned in this lesson!

Hope you’ve enjoyed and learned a lot with us in this lesson! See you in the next!❤️