No te gusto

Question

Hi all,

Working on intersemester Spanish topics and ran into an online quiz with the phrase

¨No te gusto¨

Having trouble understanding it, even though I understand the ¨me gusta algo¨ construction as being ¨I like something¨, or more literally, something pleases me.

Gustar in first person (gusto) I don´t quite understand.

I would think ¨I don´t please you¨, or more idiomatically, You don´t like me, but the quiz marked me wrong and said it should be ¨You don´t like me¨

I don´t quite (or at all) understand this. Could someone please help?

Thanks Roger

Answer 1

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I would think ¨I don´t please you¨, or more idiomatically, You don´t like me, but the quiz marked me wrong and said it should be ¨You don´t like me¨

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I'm a bit confused. Did it say "No te gustó" - "You didn't like him/her/it" ?

You wrote that what you thought was the answer, was correct... but that you were marked wrong and what you thought it should be... was correct? - sinsonte, May 19, 2012

What's the question? - sinsonte, May 19, 2012

I was supposed to translate ¨No te gusto¨ and wrote ¨You don´t like it¨ (which in hindsight is obviously wrong) but it suggested the right answer was ¨You don´t like me¨ - rogspax, May 19, 2012

Well, I guess you know your answer. Well, you said it yourself - Gustar (to be pleasing) conjugates to the thing that is pleasing. 'Gusto' = I am pleasing. No te gusto (I am not pleasing to you = You don't like me). Gusta is 3rd person (he/she/it) - sinsonte, May 19, 2012

No te gusta = you don't like it - No te gusto = you don't like me - sinsonte, May 19, 2012

Answer 2

It means you don't like me.

In this kind of constructions the object liked, or disliked and in this particular sentece it's yo, is the subject of the sentence, hence the verb conugation matches the subject. Think of it as if the verb were gustarte instead of just gustar, then you get:

• yo te gusto--> you like me

• tú te gustas--> you like yourself

• él te gusta--> you like him, etc...

Same goes for other vebs like "doler", one would never say "nos dolemos la cabeza" but "nos duele la cabeza" - diagonx, May 19, 2012

Thanks to both of you for the help. Makes sense. I just need to wrap my brain about it a bit more. - rogspax, May 19, 2012

Answer 3

It is incorrect to think of "gustar" to mean "to like". It means "to please". That is what is the cause of confusion in Diagonx's explanation. When the first person singular form of the verb "gustar" (namely gusto) is used in a sentence, as in the example in the question, then it is the subject doing the pleasing.

• So the actual meaning of the sentence "No te gusto" is I don't please you, which in a back-handed sense means the same thing as "You don't like me." But the literal meaning of the sentence is "I don't please you".

• I think this explanation makes it much easier to understand what is going on in the sentence.