58 Expressing likes and dislikes
This chapter looks at the ways in which Spanish expresses the concept of likes and
dislikes. It considers the verbs associated with them and the way in which these
function, as well as a range of other colloquial expressions.58.1 How to say you like or dislike someone or something
Gustar, ‘to please’, is the verb most commonly associated with likes and dislikes.
Spanish me gusta el fútbol corresponds to English ‘I like football’; it is important to
realize, however, that the Spanish sentence literally means ‘football pleases me’. Thus
gustar is normally preceded by an indirect object pronoun (me, te, le, nos, os, or les),
which signals the person to whom something is pleasing, while the verb itself takes the
third person ending, agreeing with its subject, the thing which is pleasing, which,
however, normally follows this verb. So, instead of saying ‘I like something’, as you
would in English, Spanish speakers would say literally ‘Something pleases me’ (e.g. me
gusta el español, ‘I like Spanish’).8.2 (p. 36); 28.1 (p. 145)
58.1.1 Usinggustar with a noun or pronoun
Gustar may be followed by a noun or a pronoun, in which case the verb will agree in
number (third person singular or plural) with the noun or pronoun (e.g. a personal,
demonstrative or possessive pronoun).Me gusta.
I like it.
No me gustan.
I don’t like them.Me gusta mucho el tenis.
I like tennis very much.
Me gustan los deportes.
I like sports.
Nos gusta ella.
We like her.No nos gustan ellos.
We don’t like them.