Definite articles using gustar? Help?

Question

I had some sentences I turned in to my teacher for an exercise using the word gustar to talk about food, and I got them all marked wrong, but I'm not really sure why.

Me gusta X comida mexicana. Mi comida preferida Méxicana es X guacamole. A ellos, les gustan X burritos. A mii hermano menor, les gustan X quesadillas.

She just put big circles where I put X's in the sentence below and put "usos de artículos" at the bottom of the page. I wanted to refer that I, or whoever I was talking about, liked that food in general, not only one specific "the burrito" or "the quesadilla", so I don't know why I would need a definite article there. Could someone please explain to me why she did that? Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Definite articles

With abstract nouns and nouns used in a general sense: In English, the article is often omitted with abstract nouns and nouns that refer more to a concept than a tangible item. But it still is needed in Spanish. A few examples might help clarify: La ciencia es importante. (Science is important.) Creo en la justicia. (I believe in justice.) Estudio la literatura. (I study literature.) La primavera es bella. (Spring is beautiful.)

So, as contradictory as it sounds, when you are talking about the concept of tacos in general, rather than a tangible taco, you also need the direct article. Spanish uses the definite article much more than we do in English.

Thanks! That helps a lot! - 00828565, Sep 26, 2010

Contradictory? You could always argue that without the article it could be interpreted as someone's name. Some languages don't even have articles. These things are simply conventions, not logical mechanisms. - lazarus1907, Sep 26, 2010

I meant that it contradicts using the defiinite article when you speak about something specific. The cars over there. Spaniish uses the definite article for both specific and generalized nouns. - 0074b507, Sep 26, 2010

Answer 2

I would include an article with these sentences. So:

Me gusta la comida mexicana.
Mi comida mexicana preferida es el guacamole.
A ellos les gustan los burritos.

Spanish uses articles more than English. Writing the Mexican food, doesn't necessarily imply that there Mexican food sitting on the table---as it does in English. It just implies that Spanish stylistically uses more articles than does English.

Does that make sense? It's a cultural difference. Spanish isn't English.

Yes, it does! Thank you so much! - 00828565, Sep 26, 2010

Answer 3

Let me tell you the rule: Spanish requires definite article for generic subjects. We don't say "Iron is hard", but "The iron is hard" (unless "Iron" is someone's name.) With verbs like "gustar", what we like is the subject of the sentence, so the article is also required.

Generic subjects...that seems more reasonable. - 0074b507, Sep 26, 2010