Gustar question
I know after the great gustar chat we had on Saturday I should probably know this, but I am a little confused about this sentence in the Spanish book:
A Marta y a Juan les gusta sacar fotos.
Could someone tell me why it is not gustan? Is it because it is talking about them singularly? What if it was: They like to take photographs?
Would it be: Les gusta sacar fotos or
Les gustan sacar fotos?
Thank you for your help.
6 Answers
In "a Marta y a Juan les gusta sacar fotos," gustar is refering to the verb sacar. Using gustar as to like can get confusing. Gustar is to be pleasing to something/someone. You're actually saying, taking pictures is pleasing to Marta and Juan. Marta and Juan are the indirect objects when the sentence is rewritten that way. That's why you use the indirect object prounoun, les. Taking pictures is the subject that's pleasing something else, so gustar is singular. If you wanted to say I like books, it could be rewritten as books are pleasing to me, so since the verb to be is now plural, gustar would be pluarl, and be me gustan los libros.
They like to take photographs (or taking photographs is pleasing to them) would be les gusta sacar fotos.
A Marta y a Juan les gusta sacar fotos. This is what is says in the Nexos Spanish book. Is this right or wrong. ???
It's right Sandy. I find it helpful to translate into "Spanglish" for example....
Les gusta sacar fotos - to them - is pleasing - to take - fotos
Nos gustan los perros - to us - they are pleasing - the dogs
To whom are they pleasing? To us - a nosotros
The next time you talk about "liking" something (in English) try expressing it in "Spanglish" first ..... I know - it sounds crazy but this is the only way I can get my head around it.
Could someone tell me why it is not gustan? Is it because it is talking about them singularly? What if it was: They like to take photographs?
First of all, if we remove the a Marta y a Juan, the example sentence DOES mean They like to take photographs. 
I could be wrong, but it appears to be fotos that is tripping you up. Fotos is not the subject of anything. Fotos is the object of the infinitive sacar.
The subject of gustar in your example sentence is the infinitive sacar, which is singular. English would usually use a gerund (i.e., taking) for this.
Would we say Taking photos ARE difficult or would we say Taking photos IS difficult? See how photos has nothing to do with the verb. Photos is the object of taking, which is itself the subject. Therefore the verb must agree with taking. Taking is, not taking are.
It sounds a bit stilted, but we CAN use the infinitive as a subject, too.
So, would we say To take photos ARE difficult or would we say To take photos IS difficult? Once again, we would use IS, not ARE.
I hope I am answering the right question. LOL.
This is the best explanation, Sandy, look at Lazarus's post, one of the things he says is :
Gustar is 100% regular and it must agree with the subject, which in this case is plural ("enchiladas"), so it must be "le gusten".
YOur sentence is this one:
Les gustan sacar fotos?
The subject is "sacar fotos", , N O T fotos
Last night we had a serious problem with
¿Te gusto?
Nobody realized who the subject was, namely "yo"!!
Yo (te) gusto a ti. (this would be the long form)
I think Sandy, that it is because it is the 'taking' that they like, which is a single activity.
If you wanted to say 'They like photos', then you would say "Les gustan las fotos."
By the way, are threads about Saturday chat topics posted on Thursday? I need to watch out for them. 
A Marta y a Juan les gusta sacar fotos. This is what is says in the Nexos Spanish book. Is this right or wrong. ???
