Me gusta and similar opinion verbs

by Alba Castro

Today we're going to learn some important grammar for beginners and I'm sure if you have an intermediate level you could use a recap.

Good news! Chances are you already know "me gusta" (I like) and "me encanta" (I love), well, then you already know two!

These are verbs that are a little bit special, let's see why!

Structure

You need two parts.

Part 1

Indirect object pronoun, as you see in the blue part of the box below, and you choose this depending on who has the opinion.

So for example, if you use "gustar" (to like), I would say "me gusta" using "me", because it's me who likes something.

If it's you who likes something, I'd say "te gusta".

Part 2

You take the infinitive and you take the -r out as you see below.

You also can see on this cheat sheet the list of verbs that work this way.

What verbs are these?

Most of these verbs are about opinion but we also have 3 that are about amount ("to lack", "to have enough", "to have left over"), and also "to hurt" and "to seem".

You have examples of those in the box with the orange frame next to the list.

Now I'm going to do the sentence "I ..." with each of these verbs so you understand better what they mean:

Me basta - It's enough for me

Me disgusta - It disgusts me

Me duele - It hurts me

Me encanta - I love

Me falta -I'm lacking

Me fascina -It fascinates me

Me gusta - I like

Me importa - It matters to me

Me interesa - It interests me

Me molesta - It bothers me

Me parece-It seems to me

Me sobra - I have left over

Me preocupa - It worries me

If what you like, what you have enough of, what fascinates you etc, is more than one thing (plural) then you just add an -n to the verb, like this:

Me fascinan las películas clásicas - Classic movies fascinate me.

Practice

Translate these sentences.

You have the vocab you need for each and also some notes on how we would translate certain things into Spanish.

Recommendation: Apart from with "parecer", use always the same structure: "pronoun" (tiny word in blue) + "verb" (without the -r) + rest of the sentence/"the thing".

  • She’s lacking concentration

    Concentración: Concentration

  • These clothes are enough for me

    Ropa: Clothes

  • We love music

    Música: Music (we'll say "the music")

  • Her arm hurts

    Brazo: Arm (we'll say "the arm"

  • That coat seems great to you

    Genial: Great Abrigo: Coat

  • You guys have left over blankets

    Manta: Blanket (we'll say "the blankets")

  • Insects fascinate him

    Insectos: Insects (We'll say "the insects")

  • Noise bothers them

    Ruido: Noise (We'll say "the noise")

  • Technology matters to us

    Tecnología: Tecnología (We'll say "the technology")