LP - El verbo gustar [lo básico' - (basics)] (Lesson)
El verbo gustar [lo básico' - (basics)]
El Verbo Gustar
The verb gustar and verbs like gustar are special cases in Spanish. In this introduction you will only learn its use with "me" and "te". Later in the course you will get into this special verb type more in depth.
Gustar and verbs like gustar are used differently. Usually the word that follows the form of the verb determines which of the two forms you use.
The pronoun before is what actually changes in the conversation. For simplicity sake, we will focus on only 2 forms: Me is equivilant in meaning only to I; and Te is equivilant in meaning to you (one person, singular.)
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- Me gusta
- Me gustan
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- Te gusta
- Te gustan
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Me examples
- Me gusta cantar mucho. [Followed by infinitive verb form]
- I like to sing a lot.
- Me gusta cantar, bailar, y comer . [Followed by more than one infinitive verb forms]
- I like to sing, dance and eat.
- Me gusta el pollo . [Followed by a singular noun]
- I eat chicken.
- Me gustan las papas fritas . [Followed by a plural noun]
- I like French fries.
Te examples
- Te gusta cantar mucho. [Followed by infinitive]
- You like to sing a lot.
- Te gusta cantar, bailar, y comer . [Followed by more than one infinitive]
- You like to sing, dance and eat.
- Te gusta el pollo . [Followed by a singular noun]
- You like to eat chicken.
- Te gustan las papas fritas . [Followed by a plural noun]
- You like to eat French fries.
**When you surround the phrase with question marks, it then becomes a question. In the spoken form, the intonation (rise in your voice) will distinguish it as a question.
- Te gusta el pollo. - You like chicken.
- ¿Te gusta el pollo? - Do you like chicken?
Practice what you've learned by completing the review activity below.
Conversar
It's dinner time (at 9:00PM!) and Jen is sitting down with her host family to eat. It's time to get to know one another better! Jen is a little nervous so she has been planning what she's going to say and now she's in her room practicing out loud. Read what Jen plans to say and answer the questions that follow.
Me llamo Jen y soy de los Estados Unidos. Tengo dieciséis años. Me gusta cantar, bailar, y comer. ¿Qué hora es?
Now answer the questions in the activity below.
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