Good old gustar!

Question

Well I thought I'd cracked 'gustar'. Then I came across the following sentence:

Lo que más me gusta es bailar. What I like best is dance.

My question is. I didn't know that gustar could be followed by a conjugated verb - I thought if it was a verb it was in the infinitive. So, could the sentence miss out the 'es' and mean the same? ie Lo que más me gusta bailar or is there a subtle difference in the meanings.

As always, gracias mis amigos

Answer 1

Lo que más me gusta bailar es el tango. = The thing I like to dance the most is the tango.

Lo que más me gusta es bailar. = The thing I like the most is to dance.

Me gusta bailar. = I like to dance.

"Es" is required in the first two because it refers back to "lo que". What is the thing that you like the most?

got it! thanks :) - billygoat, Aug 24, 2011

Answer 2

NO, the sentence could not miss out the "es": this is the main verb.

Lo que más me gusta (subject)

es (main verb conjugated)

bailar (object, complemento predicativo).

But the subject (lo que más me gusta) is itself a sentence:

You could also say:

Lo que más me gusta (a mí) es...

Lo que más te gusta ( a ti) es...

Lo que más le gusta ( a él, a ella) es...

Lo que más nos gusta ( a nosotros) es...

Lo que más os (les) ( a vosotros, a ustedes) gusta es...

Lo que más les gusta ( a ellos) es...

You can choose the object:

Lo que más me gusta es...

nadar, caminar, correr, remar, hacer yoga, montar a caballo, jugar al futbol, ver televisión, escuchar música, etc.

"lo que más me gusta" is noun clause not a sentence. - samdie, Aug 24, 2011

thanks for the explanation - billygoat, Aug 25, 2011

I agree with you, samdie: cláusulas Sustantivas: Son las que funcionan como sustantivo y desarrollan la misma función que un sustantivo puede hacer. - LuisCache, Aug 25, 2011

Answer 3

Lo que más me gusta es bailar. What I like best is dance.

My question is. I didn't know that gustar could be followed by a conjugated verb - I thought if it was a verb it was in the infinitive.

The structure of a sentence is not just about what follows what; especially in a language where word order is so flexible. This kind of structure is called in Spanish grammars "construcciones enfáticas", which also exist in English. Look how to transform a normal sentence into one of these:

Quiero comer ? Lo que quiero es comer (What I want is to eat)

No veo a tu hermano ? Al que no veo es a tu hermano

Me gusta bailar ? Lo que me gusta es bailar.

Anyway, syntactically speaking, "Lo que me gusta" is the subject, and "bailar" is the "atributo". The sentence is like "Lo mejor es bailar" or even "Eso es bailar" in terms of structure. "Gustar" is embedded within the subject, so it does not interact with anything outside of its subordinate clause.

thank you Lazarus. I am still thinking 'text book' and often get it wrong! Your answers always clarify things for me. - billygoat, Aug 25, 2011

And, most gratefully, they have clarified numerous questions for me as well. - territurtle, Aug 25, 2011

Answer 4

it is essentially saying: "What I like the best" is to dance.

Works the same with other verbs as well,

lo que me gusta es caminar/platicar/comer.....

the es is your english is

thank you :) - billygoat, Aug 24, 2011

Answer 5

In Spanish, infinitive verbs are often used like English gerunds, as nouns.

dancing is fun

bailar es divertido

thanks :) - billygoat, Aug 24, 2011