Gustar is unique in Spanish. It literally means "to be pleasing" — the structure is backwards from English!
English: I like pizza.
Spanish (literal): Pizza is pleasing to me. → Me gusta la pizza.
Once you understand the reversed logic, gustar becomes easy!
Formula: [Person] + gusta/gustan + [Thing]
Me gusta el español. (Spanish is pleasing to me = I like Spanish.)
Te gusta la pizza. (Pizza is pleasing to you = You like pizza.)
Le gusta el fútbol. (Soccer is pleasing to him/her = He/she likes soccer.)
Nos gusta viajar. (Traveling is pleasing to us = We like to travel.)
Key insight: Gustar ALWAYS agrees with the thing being liked, not the person!
Gustar has only TWO forms you need to memorize:
| Singular: gusta | Me gusta el café. (I like coffee.) |
| Plural: gustan | Me gustan los pasteles. (I like pastries.) |
Remember: The thing being liked determines singular or plural!
Me gusta la montaña. (singular)
Me gustan las montañas. (plural)
Use these pronouns before gustar to show who likes something:
| Me gusta | = to me (I like) |
| Te gusta | = to you (you like) |
| Le gusta | = to him/her/you formal (he/she likes) |
| Nos gusta | = to us (we like) |
| Os gusta | = to you all (Spain, you all like) |
| Les gusta | = to them (they like) |
To say you like doing something, use gusta (always singular!) + infinitive:
Me gusta correr. (I like to run.)
Te gusta estudiar español. (You like to study Spanish.)
Nos gusta viajar. (We like to travel.)
Important: With infinitives, ALWAYS use gusta (singular), even with nosotros!
When the "thing" being liked is an action (infinitive), it's grammatically singular.
To clarify or emphasize who likes something, add a prepositional phrase:
A mí me gusta el chocolate. (To me, I like chocolate. — emphasis)
A Juan le gusta la música. (To Juan, he likes music.)
A nosotros nos gustan los deportes. (To us, we like sports.)
Other similar verbs (that work like gustar):
Traps for English speakers
These are the errors English speakers make most often.