what is it?
Gustar-type verbs are a family of Spanish verbs that work back-to-front compared with most English equivalents. The grammatical subject is the thing that causes the feeling — the thing liked, the thing that hurts, the topic that interests — and the person who experiences that feeling is expressed by an indirect-object clitic (me, te, le, nos, os, les). At A1 you met this pattern with gustar; at A2 it extends to encantar (to love), doler (to hurt/ache), and interesar (to interest), and adds the full set of clitics together with the a + tonic pronoun construction used to clarify or contrast who is affected.
when to use it
Expressing enjoyment or love of something — use encantar when the feeling is stronger than mere liking: «Nos encanta el café.»
Describing physical pain or discomfort — use doler: the body part that hurts is the grammatical subject, so the verb agrees with it: «Me duele la cabeza» (singular) vs. «Me duelen los pies» (plural).
Saying something interests someone — use interesar: the topic is the subject, the person is the clitic: «Les interesa la música.»
Clarifying or contrasting who is affected — add a + tonic pronoun or name before the clitic: «A mí me encanta, pero a él no le gusta.» The clitic is still obligatory; the a phrase only adds emphasis or contrast.
formation
The structure is always: (a + tonic) + clitic + verb + subject noun/infinitive. The verb takes only two forms in the present: third-person singular (when the subject is singular or an infinitive) and third-person plural (when the subject is plural). The table below shows all six clitics with encantar as a model; the same pattern applies to gustar, doler, and interesar.
| person affected | a + tonic (optional) | clitic | verb (sing. subject) | verb (pl. subject) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | a mí | me | me encanta | me encantan |
| 2nd sg. | a ti | te | te encanta | te encantan |
| 3rd sg. / usted | a él / a ella / a usted | le | le encanta | le encantan |
| 1st pl. | a nosotros/as | nos | nos encanta | nos encantan |
| 2nd pl. | a vosotros/as | os | os encanta | os encantan |
| 3rd pl. / ustedes | a ellos / a ellas / a ustedes | les | les encanta | les encantan |
When the person affected is a name rather than a pronoun, use a + name + le/les: «A Juan le interesa la historia.» The clitic le is never dropped, even when the name is already present.
Doler is an o→ue stem-changing verb, so its singular form is duele and its plural form is duelen. The agreement rule is the same: the verb agrees with the body part, not with the person.
examples in context
common pitfalls
Failing to make the verb agree with a plural subject
The subject of doler (and all gustar-type verbs) is the thing that hurts, not the person. When that thing is plural, the verb must be plural too.
✗ «Me duele los pies.» → ✓ «Me duelen los pies.»
Dropping the clitic when an a + tonic phrase is present
The a + name/pronoun phrase clarifies or emphasises; it does not replace the clitic. Both elements are required.
✗ «A Juan interesa la historia.» → ✓ «A Juan le interesa la historia.»
Treating the person as the grammatical subject
In English you say «I love travelling», so learners try to make the person the subject in Spanish too. With gustar-type verbs the person is always an indirect object, never the subject.
✗ «Yo encanto viajar.» → ✓ «Me encanta viajar.»
Three sentences, graded here. Nothing is saved and no account is needed.
A nosotros nos ___ muy difícil seguir una dieta estricta. (resultar)
Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb in parentheses.