Me gusta el español may be one of the first sentences we learn when we start studying Spanish. However, gustar can be a tricky verb to use!
In fact, “how do you say that you like something?” is one of the questions we get asked the most by our Coffee Break Spanish community. That’s why in the latest episode of The Coffee Break Spanish Show Mark and Concha are chatting about how the structure me gusta works and teaching us how to use it in different tenses and situations.
The Coffee Break Spanish Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations in which we demystify tricky Spanish language topics, and we hope that after listening to the episode and reading this article you’ll be confident using the verb gustar in many different situations.
Continue reading to find out more and why not listen to the podcast as you go?
Me gusta
Verbs like gustar (used to talk about liking things) or encantar (used to talk about loving things) are back-to-front verbs when we compare the structure to English. Let’s take an example:
Me gusta el café.
I like coffee.
Yes, this means “I like coffee”, but its literal meaning is “to me (me) it pleases (gusta) the coffee (el café)”. Or, in other words, “coffee pleases me” = me gusta el café.
Understanding this structure is key to using the verb properly, because the verb is conjugated according to what is pleasing to us or what we like.
That might sound a bit obscure, so here are three examples where we can see how it is used in different situations:
me gusta + singular noun
e.g. Me gusta la manzana.
I like the apple.
me gustan + plural noun
e.g. Me gustan las tazas.
I like the mugs.
me gusta + verb (infinitive)
e.g. Me gusta estudiar español.
I like studying Spanish.
As you can see in the second structure, when we have a plural noun (tazas – “mugs”), instead of using me gusta (gustar in the third person singular form) we use me gustan (in the third person plural form). Remember that in Spanish we are saying “something pleases me”. When that something is a plural noun (as is the case with tazas), we are therefore saying “they please” (gustan), rather then “it pleases” (gusta).
‘Gustar’ in different tenses
Now, let’s take this a stage further and try using gustar in different tenses. How would you say the following sentences in Spanish?
I have liked them a lot.
I liked them a lot.
You will like them.
You are going to like them.
Think about them for as long as you need to, then check the answers below:
I have liked them a lot.
Here, we are using the perfect tense:
Me han gustado mucho.
I liked them a lot.
Now, we are using the preterite tense.
Me gustaron mucho.
You will like them.
Using the future tense, this would be:
Te gustarán mucho.
You are going to like them.
Here, we use the structure ir a + infinitive, and here we have two possible options. In the first option, the pronoun (te) goes before the van a gustar structure. In the second option, the pronoun goes after and is attached to the infinitive. Both are correct and there’s no difference in meaning:
Te van a gustar mucho. / Van a gustarte mucho.
How to say “I like you”
We have seen how to use gustar in different tenses and structures, so now, can you guess how “I like you” is expressed in Spanish?
Since we are literally saying “you please me”, this would be me gustas (tú), where the verb is conjugated according to the subject, tú. Remember that the subject pronoun is optional, as usual in Spanish.
To ask somebody “do you like me?”, you would say ¿te gusto?, literally meaning “do I please you?”
Note that using gustar in this way suggests liking someone in a romantic way.
“I like you” – with friends
If you want to say you like someone, but not in a romantic way, we use caer bien in Spanish. ¡Ojo! Caer is an irregular verb in some tenses. Let’s look at some examples:
La novia de mi hermano me cae bien.
I like my brother’s girlfriend
(literally, “my brother’s girlfriend falls well to me”).
Los vecinos no me cayeron bien.
I didn’t like the neighbours.
Translation challenge
Let’s put what we’ve learned to the test. How would you say the following sentence in Spanish? Try translating it using gustar first, then using caer bien, and think about how the meaning changes with each verb. You can find the answers at the end of this article. Here’s your translation challenge:
At the beginning I didn’t like you, but now I like you very much.
Conclusion and answers
If you found this post interesting, make sure to listen to the full episode with Mark and Concha on The Coffee Break Spanish Show. This is the series in which we look at a range of topics for Spanish learners, so make sure to subscribe to our podcast feed and our channel on YouTube.
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Happy Coffee Breaking!
PS. Here are the translations of the sentence:
Using caer bien:
Al principio no me caíste bien, pero ahora me caes muy bien.
You would use this when talking to a friend or an acquaintance.
Using gustar:
Al principio no me gustabas, pero ahora me gustas mucho.
You would use this when talking to somebody you are romantically interested in.
