Gustar, importar, encantar
Why is the conjugated forms of these like so:
Me gusta = I like
Me is the object, while gusta is the conjugated form of He/she/it likes.
Following the common spanish rules im used to I would normally say
Lo Gusto = I like it. Gusto = I like, Lo = it.
The same applys to me importa, and me encanta. Can someone explain this please!
2 Answers
Hi, DrJD
I can try to explain it to you...
In Spanish there are a few verbs, including the ones that you asked about, that work totally differently than our English equivalents.
Let's take "gustar". In English, I would say "I like chocolate". In other words, "I" am the subject and "chocolate" is the object. In Spanish it is backwards to the English way of thinking. In Spanish the subject is "chocolate" and the object is "me". Therefore: "Me gusta el chocolate" meaning "Chocolate is pleasing to me." ("gustar" - literally to be pleasing).
If you wanted to say "We like the book", you flip it around - "the book is pleasing to us" - "Nos gusta el libro".
What about things that are plural? "She likes dogs". Flip the sentence - "Dogs are pleasing to her" - "Le gustan los perros." Notice that the subject is plural in Spanish, so the verb must also be plural. Here's another one: "You like sports" - "sports are pleasing to you - "Te gustan los deportes".
"Encantar" literally means "to be enchanting". Therefore, "I love your shoes" - "Your shoes are enchanting to me" - "Me encantan tus zapatos".
"Importar" means "to matter/to be important". Therefore: "Your ideas matter to him" - "Le importan tus ideas."
I hope that this has helped clear it up for you!
por que?
