REVIEW SHEET – GUSTAR

Nombre:

I.         Agreement.

·         Unlike in English, in Spanish the subject of the verb GUSTAR goes AFTER THE VERB: I like tacos à Me gustan LOS TACOS. In this sentence, LOS TACOS is the subject (not ME). Instead of saying “I like tacos”, one says “tacos are pleasing to me”.

·         Like in any other Spanish sentence, then:

A. The subject needs and article (except if it is an infinitive, like me gusta jugar al fútbol; or a name, like a Luis le gusta María, that means “Luis likes María”). So ALWAYS PUT THE ARTICLE BETWEEN GUSTA(n) AND THE SUBJECT: Me gusta EL cine; me gustan LOS perros; Me gustan LOS spaguettis; etc.

B. The verb HAS TO AGREE with the subject. Below are the three only options for the verb gustar:

à Practice: Fill the blanks with the correct form of the verb gustar (GUSTA, GUSTAN). Remember: to know which form of GUSTAR you have to use, you should check what is the subject that follows the verb:

1. A mí, me  _____________ los tacos.
2. A mí, me ______________ jugar al fútbol.
3. A mí, me ________________ la televisión.
4. A mí, me ____________ ver la televisión.
5. A mi, me ____________ la comida china.
6. A mí, me _____________ las películas mexicanas.
7. A mí, me ____________ escuchar música, leer libros e ir de compras.
8. A mí, me _____________ los spaguettis.
9. A mí, me ____________ comer en el restaurante.
10. A mí, me ____________ la música rap.

II. Personal IO pronoun.

• A personal IO pronoun is placed always before the verb GUSTAR.

• The form of this personal pronoun changes, depending on whom are we talking about: It could be: ME, TE, LE, NOS, OS, LES. Below are the corresponding pronouns you have to use:

à Practice: Now fill the blanks with the correct form of the IO personal pronoun, depending on who are we talking about in each sentence:

11. A mí, ______ gustan los tacos.
12. A ellos, ________ gusta jugar al fútbol.
13. A ellas, ________ gusta la televisión.
14. A nosotros, ________ gusta ver la televisión.
15. A vosotros, ________ gusta la comida china.
16. A ella, ________ gustan las películas mexicanas.
17. A ti, _______ gusta la pasta.
18. A él, ________ gustan los spaguettis.
19. A mis padres, ______ gusta comer en el restaurante.
20. A mis padres y a mí, _______ gusta la música rap.

III.                  Reinforcement.

·        The IO pronoun can be reinforced; then you put before the pronoun the preposition A, followed by the correct pronoun:

ME à a mí

TE à a ti

LE à a él, a ella, a usted

NOS à a nosotros

OS à a vosotros

LES à a ellos, a ellas, a ustedes

à Practice: Now fill the blanks with the correct form of the IO personal pronoun, depending on whom are we talking about in each sentence:

21. ______ ______, me gustan los tacos.
22. ______ ______, les (masc. pl.) gusta jugar al fútbol.
23. ______ ______, les (fem. pl.) gusta la televisión.
24. ______ ______, nos gusta ver la televisión.
25. ______ ______, os gusta la comida china.
26. ______ ______, le (fem. sing.) gustan las películas mexicanas.
27. ______ ______, te gusta la pasta.
28. ______ ______, le (= usted) gustan los spaguettis.
29. ______ ______, les (= ustedes) gusta comer en el restaurante.
30. ______ ______, nos gusta la música rap.

IV. Verbs like gustar.

·                    A number of verbs in Spanish are used similarly to gustar, that is, in the third person with an indirect object pronoun. That means that YOU HAVE TO CONJUGATE THE VERB: you can’t say “**Me encantar los tacos”, but “me ENCANTAN los tacos”. The same options 1, 2 and 3 apply to these verbs.

·                    EXPRESSING LIKE:

ENCANTAR, to love à Me encanta el chocolate

INTERESAR, it is interesting to me à Me interesa el chocolate

VOLVER LOCO, to love à Me vuelve loco el chocolate

FASCINAR, it fascinates me à Me fascina el chocolate

DIVERTIR, it amuses me à Me divierte comer chocolate

·                    EXPRESSING DISLIKE:

MOLESTAR, to bother à Me molesta el ruido (= “noise bothers me”)

DISGUSTAR, to dislike à Me disgusta el ruido

ABURRIR, it is boring to me à Me aburre jugar al tenis

HORRORIZAR, to hate à Me horroriza jugar al tenis

IRRITAR, ENFADAR, it makes me angry à Me enfada/me irrita el ruido

FASTIDIAR, to bother, to annoy à Me fastidia jugar al tenis

à Practice. Write below ten original sentences using verbs like gustar:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

V.                 Gustaría/encantaría.

·                     The –ía ending on gustar and similar verbs, is translate “would like” (or “would love” = me encantaría; etc.); it is used:

1. To say what you would like or to soften requests (when making polite requests): Me gustaría ir al cine – I would like to go to the movies. ¿Te gustaría ir al cine? – Would you like to go to the movies?

2. To express an immediate like or dislike: Me gustaría ir al cine ahora – I would like to go to the movies NOW (instead of “me gusta ir al cine”, “I like to go to the movies” (every day, always…).

à Practice: Translate to Spanish the following sentences:

a. I would like to play basketball today à

b. We would like to go to Argentina à

c. I would love to go to Argentina à

d. They would like to speak Spanish à

e. She would love to go shopping à

f.  At eight p.m., you (sing.) would love to go to the movies à

VI. ENCUESTA (Survey). Choose the correct box for every activity depending on what you like or dislike. Me da igual means “I don’t care”, “it doesn’t matter to me”.