Gustar and verbs like it, explained
Spanish doesn't say “I like coffee”. It says me gusta el café: “coffee pleases me”. The thing you like is the subject, so the verb agrees with it, and the person who likes it is an indirect object pronoun.
Once that clicks, a whole family of verbs works the same way: encantar, interesar, doler, molestar, parecer.
The essentials
- One thing or an infinitive: me gusta el café, me gusta bailar. Several things: me gustan los perros.
- The pronoun says who likes it: me, te, le, nos, os, les gusta.
- Add a + person for emphasis or clarity: a mí me gusta, a Ana le gustan los gatos.
- Agree with a mí también / a mí tampoco, disagree with a mí sí / a mí no.
- Same pattern: me encanta, te interesa, le duele la cabeza, nos molesta el ruido.
Every lesson on this topic
Each lesson has a full explanation, examples you can listen to, and exercises with answers.
A1 (the A1 course)
- Gustar: me gusta / me gustan: Me gusta el café, me gustan los perros: the thing you like is the subject.
- me, te, le, nos, os, les with gustar and dar: To whom? Le doy el libro, nos gusta el cine
- también and tampoco; a mí también / a mí tampoco: Agreeing and disagreeing: yo también, yo tampoco, a mí sí, a mí no
A2 (the A2 course)
- Verbs like gustar: encantar, interesar, doler, molestar, parecer: Me encanta, te interesa, le duele, nos molesta, ¿qué os parece?
In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised with questions that explain the rule when you slip, and brought back for review on later days.
Other topics
- Ser vs estar, explained
- Por vs para, explained
- Preterite vs imperfect, explained
- The Spanish subjunctive, explained
- Spanish reflexive verbs, explained
- Spanish object pronouns, explained
- Spanish commands (the imperative), explained
- Spanish future and conditional, explained
- The Spanish present tense and stem-changing verbs
- Spanish perfect tenses: he hablado, había hablado and more
- Tú vs usted (and vosotros vs ustedes), explained
- Spanish articles, gender and agreement, explained
- Spanish pronunciation and accent marks, explained