The Verb Gustar and Encantar

To express the meaning of "to like", Spanish uses the verb gustar, which literally means "to be pleasing to." The subject of the verb is then what "is pleasing or are pleasing to," and the indirect receiver becomes the indirect object of the verb. Consequently, gustar can only be conjugated in its third person singular or plural (gusta or gustan).

||| ||| |¿Te gusta la clase de español?|Sí, me gusta mucho.| |¿Te gustan todas las clases?|No, no me gustan todas. Solamente me gusta la clase de español.|

Gustar can be followed by another verb in the infinitive to express what one likes to do:

• ¿Te gusta hablar español?
  • Sí, me gusta mucho.

Note also that to state what one does not like, the negative word no must be placed before the indirect object pronoun.

• ¿Te gusta cantar?
  • No, no me gusta cantar.

Other ways of expressing "what is pleasing to" with other indirect object pronouns:

|Singular|Plural| ||| |me -- to me|nos -- to us| |te -- to you|os -- to you| |le -- to you, to him to her, to it| les -- to you, to them|

• Le gusta estudiar.

  • He likes to study (Studying is pleasing to him)
  • She likes to study (Studying is pleasing to her)
  • You like to study (Studying is pleasing to you)

• No nos gustan los vegetales.

  • We don't like vegetables (Vegetables are not pleasing to us)

The verb Encantar:

Similar to gustar, encantar is used to imply a higher degree of "to like". It is used to express the English idea of "to live things" and "to love to do things". Just like gustar, it is conjugated only in its third person singular or plural (encanta or encantan). Also an indirect object pronoun, instead of a subject pronoun must be used with this verb. Remember to use a verb in its infinitive to describe activities that one loves to do.

• Me gusta cantar pero me encanta bailar.
  • I like to sing, but I love to dance.

To express "to love" people or pets, one must use the verb amar, a regular -ar verb.