Gustar literally means “to be pleasing.”
Use gustar to say that you like something or like to do something. .
How to use “gustar”
For now we will focus on saying that you like to do certain activities. We will use “infinitives” directly after gusta, which is the he/she form of gustar. Make sure you know what an “infinitive” is. It’s the basic “dictionary” form of the verb, with no personal endings:
- Before gusta, you can use me to indicate “I like to…”:
- Me gusta nadar (I like to swim).
- Me gusta estudiar (I like to study).
- No me gusta estudiar (I don’t like to study).
- Before gusta, you can use te to indicate “You like to…”:
- ¿Te gusta jugar fútbol americano? (Do you like to play football?)
- ¿Te gusta trabajar? (Do you like to work?)
- ¿No te gusta trabajar? (You don’t like to work?)