Verbs like 'gustar'

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Miclus

#4389 Sun, 12 Feb 06 05:44 AM

How many ways can you say the same thing with gustar? For instance, if I want to say

I like her.

Can I say:

ella me gusta
a ella me gusta
me gusta ella
me gusta a ella

Are any of those right?

Another thing I was reading about I don't understand is when I say

She hits him.

him = direct object.

When I say

She pleases him.

him = indirect object.

I'm confused why??? For instance, wouldn't I put for the 2nd one

A él le gusta a ella???

But, I was wondering about

A él lo gusta a ella.

Miclus

Joined on 16-01-2006

Usuario Principiante (39)

Crom

#4393 Sun, 12 Feb 06 01:51 PM

Hola I hope you can understand the verb by the examples:

I like her. = ella me gusta / (a mí) me gusta ella

She hits him. = ella lo (= him) golpea

She pleases him. = ella lo complace

A él le gusta a ella =He likes her.

Pablo likes Maria = A Pablo le gusta María.

A ella le gusta él = She likes him.

Pilar likes Gustavo = A Pilar le gusta Gustavo.

A él lo gusta a ella.

Other verbs like gustar: encantar, fascinar.

Me encanta la comida francesa. = I love French food

(A él) Le fascinan las chicas altas = He loves tall girls.

Saludos

Crom

Joined on 08-12-2005

Santa Anita, Lima, Perú

Miembro Senior (1,676)

I am here to learn from each other. Usa la opción de insertar símbolos (symbols) si tu teclado no tiene caracteres en español.

Miclus

#4418 Sun, 12 Feb 06 08:22 PM

Thanks. I'm confused on some.

I like her. = ella me gusta

A él le gusta a ella =He likes her.

A ella le gusta él = She likes him.

Why on the second one I have to put that "a ella" but on the other ones I don't have to put "a él" and "a ella"??? Here is what I have thought of:

me gusta a ella = i like her

a él le gusta a ella = he likes her

a ella le gusta a él = she likes him

What do you think?

Also, when I look in my verb book it says gustar means "to please". So, when you did

She pleases him.

I was thinking I could just write

Ella lo gusta.

Any ideas why you can't do that???

Miclus

Auser

#4427 Sun, 12 Feb 06 10:44 PM

Gustar means to like

Auser

Joined on 17-01-2006

Miembro Pleno (691)

www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com

Vicente

#4845 Mon, 20 Feb 06 07:01 AM

Yes "gustar" is used to translate English "to like", but it works more like the English verb "to please" than "to like". I think this approach makes it less confusing, so us learners don't have to wonder why some verbs act strangely and others don't.

Let's say you want to say "I like her". How would you express a similar idea using the verb "to please"? "She is pleasing to me". Therefore you have "Ella me gusta" (ella gusta = she is pleasing, me = to me)

How about "She likes me"? This would be similar to "I am pleasing to her". Therefore "Le gusto a ella" (le = to her, gusto = I am pleasing)

This makes much more sense and is far less confusing.

Vicente

Joined on 20-02-2006

Mississauga (Igloo #44), Soviet Canuckistan

Usuario Principiante (30)

aunque mi apodo es "vicente", no soy hispanohablante.

Vicente

#4846 Mon, 20 Feb 06 07:12 AM

Auser
Yes "gustar" is used to translate English "to like", but it works more like the English verb "to please" than "to like". I think this approach makes it less confusing, so us learners don't have to wonder why some verbs act strangely and others don't.

Let's say you want to say "I like her". How would you express a similar idea using the verb "to please"? "I am pleasing to her". Therefore you have "Le gusto a ella" this means she likes me (le = to her, gusto = I please)

How about "She likes me"? This would be similar to "She is pleasing to me". Therefore "Ella me gusta" this means I like her. May be you are getting confused(ella gusta = she is pleasing, me = to me)

" me" is an object pronoun which corresponds to " (to) me" so it can never mean I. Therefore technically "Ella me gusta" can't really mean " I like her" but something like " She is pleasing to me". Then "she" is "ella" as it usually is and "gustar" becomes just a regular verb (= to be pleasing)

In the second example, "le" means "to her" and "gusto" is conjugated as though the subject is "yo" (I) because it is!

Le gusto a ella: I am pleasing to her. Or roughly, if people insist, means "She likes me"

A further example of why the approach should change:

Me gustan los árboles: If you say that this means "I like the trees", people will get confused because of the "n" in gustan appearing out of nowhere. But if you say that this means " The trees are pleasing to me" (~ I like the trees) then it makes more grammatical sense. Gustar becomes "gustan" because the subject is 3rd person plural!

So there are no such things as "verbs like gustar"!

Vicente

Auser

#4853 Mon, 20 Feb 06 02:50 PM

Remember you are not translating word by word; even though sometimes you can get away with it. Spanish works in a different way than englishand translating word by word would lead you to an incorrect sentence. For example, In Spanish the adjectives go after the noun, unlike English, the adjective goes before the noun.