what is it?
Gustar is the standard Spanish verb for expressing that something is pleasing — that is, that you like it. It works differently from most English verbs: the thing that is liked is the grammatical subject of the sentence, and the person who likes it is the indirect object, marked by an indirect-object pronoun (me, te, le, nos, os, les). Because the liked thing is the subject, gustar agrees with it, not with the person. The result is that gustar appears almost exclusively in two forms: gusta (singular subject or infinitive) and gustan (plural subject).
when to use it
Singular noun subject. Use gusta when the thing liked is a single, countable noun or an uncountable noun: «Me gusta el café.» The noun takes the definite article.
Plural noun subject. Use gustan when the thing liked is a plural noun: «Me gustan los libros.» The noun still takes the definite article.
Infinitive subject. Use gusta (always singular) when the subject is one or more infinitives: «Me gusta bailar.» An infinitive is treated as a singular noun in Spanish.
formation
The structure is: indirect-object pronoun + gusta/gustan + subject. The table below shows the indirect-object pronouns paired with the two working forms of gustar.
| indirect-object pronoun | person | form with singular/infinitive subject | form with plural subject |
|---|---|---|---|
| me | yo (I) | me gusta | me gustan |
| te | tú (you, informal) | te gusta | te gustan |
| le | él/ella/usted | le gusta | le gustan |
| nos | nosotros/as | nos gusta | nos gustan |
| os | vosotros/as | os gusta | os gustan |
| les | ellos/ellas/ustedes | les gusta | les gustan |
The liked thing always takes the definite article in Spanish, even when English would use no article: «Me gusta el café» = «I like coffee».
examples in context
common pitfalls
Treating gustar like a regular verb. Learners often copy the English pattern and write *yo gusto el café. This is wrong. The person who likes something is the indirect object, not the subject. The correct form is me gusta el café.
Failing to make gustar agree with a plural noun. Saying *me gusta los libros is a very common error. Because los libros is the grammatical subject, the verb must agree with it: me gustan los libros.
Pluralizing gustar before an infinitive. An infinitive is always treated as a singular noun in Spanish, so *me gustan bailar is incorrect. Use the invariable singular: me gusta bailar.