Gustar : Indirect object pronouns. Singular

Plural

1 person

A mí me (To me)

A nosotros nos (To us)

2 person

A tí te ( To you)

A vosotros os (To you all in Spain)

3 person

A ella/él/ud. Le (To her, to him, to you (formal)

A ellas/ellos/uds. Les (To them, to you all )

The words in red are called prepositional pronouns, the ones on green Are called indirect object pronouns. Indirect object pronouns respond to the question: who or to whom. Who is doing the liking? To whom something is pleasing?

Filling the gaps-Gustar and other indirect object pronouns  Usted:  ¿Qué le gusta hacer a ud?

A usted le gusta(n)…

 Él, ella  ¿Qué le gusta hacer a él?  ¿Qué le gusta hacer a ella?

A él le gusta(n)…. A ella le gusta(n)…

 Nosotros  ¿Qué nos gusta hacer ( a nosotros)?

A nosotros nos gusta(n)..

 Ellos, ellas, ustedes  ¿Qué les gusta hacer (a ellos)? A ellos les gusta(n)  ¿Qué les gusta hacer (a ellas)? A ellas les gusta(n)  ¿Qué les gusta hacer (a ustedes)? A ustedes les gusta(n)

Gustar use  Verbo gustar grammar remains the same

when used with all IO pronouns.  Use Gusta with singular objects and activities (one or twenty).  Use Gustan with plural objetcs.  Verbo gustar use is not based on who is doing the liking- plural pronouns or singular pronouns, but on the object or activity that is liked.

Ejemplos  A nosotros nos gusta cantar

 A ella le gusta cantar

 A nosotras nos gusta cantar y

 A ella le gusta cantar y bailar

bailar  A ella le gusta el libro  A nosotras nos gusta el libro  A ella le gustan los libros  A nosotras nos gustan los libros

Gustar sentences rules Singular

Plural

1 person

A mí me

A nosotros nos

2 person

A tí te

A vosotros os

3 person

A ella/él/ud. le

A ellas/ellos/uds. les

Rule 1 In the first and second grammatical persons in the singular and plural Forms, you can skip the use of the prepositional pronoun because it is clear who is doing the liking since only one indirect object pronoun is matched to one prepositional pronoun. Rule 2 By the contrary the third person singular and plural share a common Indirect object pronoun, thus it is not clear who is doing the liking unless you use a prepositional pronoun.

Negative sentences  A usted no le gusta(n)…  A él no le gusta(n)….  A ella no le gusta(n)…  A nosotros no nos gusta(n)..  A ellos no les gusta(n)  A ellas no les gusta(n)  A ustedes no les gusta(n) ¿ Qué le gusta hacer a ella? ¿ Qué NO le gusta hacer a ella?

Negative sentences  As a general rule when you are making a

negative sentence or a negative questions, you have to place the NO before the indirect object pronoun.

Gustar: when you don’t like to do two activities or more.  No me gusta ni estudiar ni nadar  I don’t like to study nor to swim.

Gustar combinations  A Martha y a mí nos gusta bailar.  A nosotras nos gusta bailar.

Verbo Gustar What to you like to do more? (What is more pleasing to you?)

 ¿Qué te gusta más, bailar o cantar? (What do you like better? To dance or to sing?)  Me gusta más bailar. (I like to dance more)  No me gusta ni bailar ni cantar. (I don’t like to dance or sing)  Me gustan las dos. (I like both)  Or: me gusta bailar y cantar.

Review points  Ana ¿ Te gusta bailar?  Do you like to dance?

 Pedro: No, no me gusta bailar  Ana: ¿ y a tí?

 Juan: A mí sí me gusta bailar.  I do like to dance

Verbo gustar versus me encanta

Encantar: To love, to be delighted by…  Encantar uses the same grammar as gustar:      

A mí me encanta(n)…. A tí te encanta(n)…. A ud/ella/él le encanta(n)… A nosotros nos encanta(n)… A vosotros os encanta(n)… A ellos/ellas/uds. Les encanta(n)…

Of course, it is possible to use other forms. Gustas, for example is used frequently.

Me gustas (tú). You please me. (I like you.) When gustar is used with one or more infinitives, only the third person singular is used.

Me gusta leer.

Me gusta leer, jugar fútbol, y viajar.

Verbo Gustar

Verbo Gustar

I like Spanish.

Spanish is pleasing to me. gusta. Meespañol gusta elme El español. It turns out, then, that the sentence in Spanish is exactly the reverse of that in English, in its sense, and also in its word order.

Since most of the things or people that please us are expressed in third person, the two forms of gustar that are used most commonly are gusta and gustan gusto gustamos gustas gustáis gusta gustan Nos gusta nadar. We like to swim No le gustan los libros. She (he) doesn’t like books.

The verb gustar is used exclusively with indirect object pronouns

me te le

nos os les

Gustar = to be pleasing In Spanish, the thing or things that we like are expressed as being “pleasing to us.”

I like it.

In Spanish, “it” becomes the subject of the sentence and we say instead . . .

It’s pleasing to me. “I” is then expressed as the indirect object phrase “to me.”

Let’s start by talking about something we all like.

I like Spanish. Following the format on the previous slide, we would say . . .

Spanish is pleasing to me. In Spanish, this would literally be . . . me gusta. El español gusta me. But, of course, in Spanish, pronouns must be placed before conjugated verbs. Now, it so happens that, by convention, the subject (in this case El español) is generally placed at the end of the sentence with this type of construction.

Gustar = to be pleasing Gustar is used to express preferences, likes, and dislikes; however, gustar means “to be pleasing,” and is constructed very differently from the English “to like.”

Gustar is a completely regular -ar verb in its conjugation.

gusto gustas gusta

gustamos gustáis gustan

Again, the verbs gustar, encantar, etc. are used exclusively with indirect object pronouns These are mandatory

me (a mí) te (a ti)

nos (a nosotros) os (a vosotros)

le

les (a ustedes) (a ellos) (a ellas)

(a usted) (a él) (a ella)

The prepositional forms are optional •(for clarification or emphasis)