A él le gustan las naranjas
On top of using websites like this one, I am using the Rosetta Stone software to help me learn Spanish. While using this software I encountered a phrase that has caused me considerable confusion. The phrase is "A él le gustan las naranjas", which I believe means He likes oranges. What I can not understand is why the "A" and "le" are necessary. Under different circumstances this would make sense, meaning I understand why the preposition "a" would be coupled with "le" an indirect object pronoun, just not in this situation. Is there something unique about "gustar"? Also I am using the Latin American Spanish version of Rosetta Stone if that makes a difference.
3 Answers
We just discussed this in my Spanish class. The way I understood it is like this:
When gustar is used to express a liking for something, it does not follow the usual conjugations, but only takes 2 forms - gusta or gustan - for the singular or plural of what is liked. Singular = "... gusta la naranja."; plural "... gustan las naranjas".
In English, "The orange fruit is pleasing to me" can be taken to mean "I like the orange fruit". This is where Gustar comes in and takes the "is pleasing to" meaning. The sentence structure in Spanish simply becomes "Me gusta la naranja" for the singular and "Me gustan las naranjas" for the plural. ("Me" becomes "te" for the 2nd person, and "le" for the 3rd person. Their plural forms are "nos", "os", and "les", respectively.)
The "a mí" ("a ti"/"a Ud.","a él", "a ella"; and for plural, "a nosotros(as)"/"a vosotros(as)/"a Uds.", "a ellos", "a ellas") may be added at the beginning to give more "feeling" to the sentence and to clarify the gender. "Me gusta la naranja" (I like the orange fruit) and "A mí me gusta la naranja" (To me, I like the orange fruit) do mean the same thing, but "Le gusta la naranja" becomes clearer when it is expressed as "A ella le gusta la naranja" because the gender of the person becomes known.
The above explanation helped me understand the use of "gustar" and I hope it will help you too.
So, as far as your actual question is concerned, the "a él" indicates that the one who likes the oranges is a male person.
This has been asked many times in the past. Below is just one link with many answers. If you do a search on "gustar" you will find plenty of other threads.
There is no literal translation for "to like;" you have to use "gustar" which acts more like "to be pleasing to."
To him oranges are pleasing. A él le gustan las naranjas.
Note that oranges are the subject of the sentence and, as gustar is instransitive (it doesn't take a direct object), he is the indirect object.
A mí me gustan los perros. I like dogs.
