Question about Gustar-like verbs. What makes them unique ?
Why do they teach them separately as a unique ? To me, other than Faltar and Gustar, they seem similar to the way we use them in English. Faltar: In English: I lack ..... In Spanish(Translated): .... lacks to me Gustar: In English: I like... In Spanish(Translated): .... pleases to me These appear to be the only "Gustar Verbs" that deviate from how we would them in English. All the rest seem perfectly normal as to how we would phrase and use them in English. Thanks !!! Hope this makes sense.
3 Answers
There is absolutely nothing unique about them. They exist in many languages, including in English, and languages like icelandic (which is very similar to Old English) have this type of constructions with verbs that would be unthinkable to any Spanish speaker, like "to dream". What puzzles English speakers is the verb "gustar", since English no longer has this construction for a verb with this meaning. While this type of construction is not very common in English, to find a few dozen common verbs that are used like "gustar" is not difficult at all.
Why do they teach them separately as a unique ? To me, other than Faltar and Gustar, they seem similar to the way we use them in English.
I agree with you. They aren't all that unique. What throws people is that you have both a translation into English and a completely different way of looking at the sentence.
To me, gustar shouldn't be the first one learned, because of this backward thinking. I think verbs like "interesar" or "fascinar" are far better choices.
Me interesa el fútbol.
Me interesan los deportes.
Me fascina la cascada.
Me fascinan tus ojos.
All of those are very simple and straightforward for an English speaker, and are "verbs like gustar." I think mastering verbs like these would make gustar much easier to grasp.
Me gusta ..... It pleases me
Me hace ..... It makes me .....
Me trae ..... It brings me
etc.
I´m not so sure this construction should be taught separately. It is simply a matter of identifying the subject.
I like roses .... Me gustan las rosas (Rosas- subject) because literaly it´s "Roses please me."
