Gustar and Verbs Like Gustar: Me Gusta, Me Gustan and 15 Verbs That Work the Same Way

Gustar and verbs like gustar work backwards compared to English. Me gusta el café doesn’t really say “I like coffee.” Word for word, it says “coffee pleases me”: the coffee is the subject, and you’re on the receiving end.

Get that one flip right and the rest falls into place: gusta or gustan, the little pronoun in front, and the fifteen other verbs that are built the same way.

How gustar and verbs like gustar work

Gustar in English is closer to “to please” than to “to like.” English puts the person first (I like coffee). Spanish puts the thing first, as the subject, and the person comes in as an indirect object pronoun: me, te, le.

So what is gustar in English, really? “To please.” That’s why yo gusto el café isn’t Spanish: yo gusto means “I am pleasing” (to someone), and in me gusta el café the one doing the pleasing is the coffee.

The pronouns: me, te, le, nos, os, les

Gustar verbs always take one of these pronouns, right before the verb:

Who likes it	Pronoun	Example	English
I	me	Me gusta el mar.	I like the ocean.
you (tú, vos)	te	¿Te gusta el mar?	Do you like the ocean?
he, she, you (usted)	le	Le gusta el mar.	He likes the ocean.
we	nos	Nos gusta el mar.	We like the ocean.
you all (Spain only)	os	¿Os gusta el mar?	Do you all like the ocean?
they, you all (ustedes)	les	Les gusta el mar.	They like the ocean.

In Latin America, ustedes covers “you all,” so you’ll use les: ¿A ustedes les gusta la comida mexicana? More practice with these pronouns is in the pronoun exercises.

A mí, a ti, a Juan: adding the person

Le gusta could be him, her or you. To make it clear, or just to add emphasis, add a + the person: a Juan le gusta el fútbol, a mis padres les gusta la playa, a mí me encanta. The pronoun stays even when you add the name. A Juan gusta el fútbol is missing a piece.

Me gusta or me gustan? Look at the thing, not the person

The verb only has to match the thing you like. One thing, or an activity: gusta. Two or more things: gustan. Who likes it doesn’t change the verb at all: me gusta, nos gusta, les gusta.

A mí también, a mí tampoco

Here’s a classic slip. Someone says me gusta el cine and you answer yo también. Close, but the conversation is built on me, so the answer is a mí también. For a negative (no me gusta el frío), agree with a mí tampoco. To disagree: a mí sí or a mí no.

Gustar in other tenses

Gustar verbs only need two forms in each tense, one for a single thing and one for several:

Tense	One thing	Several	Example
Preterite	gustó	gustaron	¿Te gustó la película?
Imperfect	gustaba	gustaban	De niña me gustaban los dibujos animados.
Conditional	gustaría	gustarían	Me gustaría un café, por favor.

Me gustaría is the polite “I’d like.” The full gustar conjugation, with audio, is on the gustar page. Two Mexicans using it in real speech:

Replay the clip1 of 2

1. No me gusta para nada trabajar, pero lo hago.I don't like working at all, but I do it. · Easy Spanish · Mexico
2. Y además de tus estudios, ¿qué te gustaba hacer?And besides school, what did you like to do? · Easy Spanish · Mexico

Spanish verbs like gustar: the 15 you’ll actually use

Spanish verbs like gustar all follow the same pattern: pronoun + verb + the thing, and the verb agrees with the thing. So ask “what is pleasing, hurting or missing?” instead of “who?”

Love it, hate it

Encantar is “to love” for things (me encantan los tacos). Then fascinar (me fascina la historia), interesar (nos interesa el arte), importar (no me importa, “I don’t care”), preocupar (me preocupa el examen), molestar (me molesta el ruido) and aburrir (me aburren las reuniones largas).

Your body

Doler, “to hurt.” Ask what hurts? One thing: me duele la cabeza. Two feet: me duelen los pies.

What’s missing or left

Faltar (to be missing), quedar (to have left) and sobrar (to have too much): nos faltan dos días para las vacaciones, me quedan diez pesos, nos sobró comida. Quedar also means “to fit”: esa camisa te queda muy bien. More forms on the quedar page.

Opinions and people

Parecer asks for an opinion: ¿Qué te parece el plan? (what do you think of the plan?). Caer bien and caer mal are about people: me cae muy bien tu novio, “I really like your boyfriend.” See the parecer and caer pages for every form.

Whose turn and cravings

Tocar tells you whose turn it is: te toca a ti. For cravings, Spain says ¿te apetece un café? For a craving in Latin America, Mexico especially, you’ll hear se me antoja.

Se me antoja un café means “I feel like a coffee”; the extra se comes along with the verb (antojarse), and the rest is the same pattern.

Is gustar reflexive?

No. The me in me gusta looks like a reflexive pronoun, but it’s an indirect object: the coffee pleases me. Some verbs on this list do have a reflexive twin, though. Me aburre la clase is “the class bores me”; me aburro en clase is “I get bored in class,” with aburrirse and I as the subject.

“I like you”: me gustas vs me caes bien

When a person is the one doing the pleasing, the verb agrees with them: me gustas is “I like you,” and it means attraction. For a coworker or a new friend, use me caes bien.

Try it: gusta or gustan?

The gustar exercises have 22 sentences with audio and a worksheet you can print.