What is the difference between "Me gusta" and "Yo gusto"?

Question

I've been told that the verb "gustar" is an irregular verb, or some other verb you don't use like most verbs. Why couldn't someone say "Yo gusto" instead of "Me gusta"?

Hi and welcome to the forum. - francobollo, Oct 23, 2012

Answer 1

It's not irregular at all, it's just that it doesn't mean "to like", it means "to be pleasing to". Yo gusto = I am pleasing to... Me gusta = (to me) he/she/it is pleasing, or to make it more natural "I like him/her/it".

Le gusto a ella = I am pleasing to her (She likes me)

Me gustas = You are pleasing to me (I like you)

Me gusta este libro = This book is pleasing to me (I like this book)

Me gustan las manzanas = Apples are pleasing to me (I like apples)

Answer 2

Me gusta means I like (Literally, something is pleasing to me).

The verb "gustar" (to like) belongs to a special category of verbs in Spanish. Most of the time, it does not use subject pronouns such as YO o TÚ, instead it uses the indirect object pronouns (ME, TE, LE, NOS, OS, LES).

Yo gusto by itself doesn't mean anything. However, you can say (Yo) gusto de leer el periódico (meaning I enjoy reading the newspaper).

Gustar as far as conjugation goes, is a regular verb.

(yo) gusto de leer ...?? ru sure Franco, do you mean perhaps - me da gusto leer? - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 23, 2012

Gusto de ir a la playa, Gusto del cine, Gusto de la sopa.. these are not as common but they are all correct - francobollo, Oct 23, 2012

muy, muy interesante, gracias, se aprende algo cada día ¿no? jeje - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 23, 2012

Answer 3

To Kiwi,

I know how awkward "gustar de" may sound, but it's correct. Check out this link from RAE.

Thanks Franco, I should have know you would know what you were talking about, jeje - ah well, learn something every day, gracias maestro :) - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 23, 2012

Answer 4

Gusto by itself is actually a noun that means 'taste' or 'pleasure'.

So you can say things like -

Me da gusto leer. Reading gives me pleasure. (lit - to me, it gives, pleasure, reading)

Me dio mucho gusto verte. It was lovely to see you. (lit. To me it gave much pleasure to see you.)

or

Tiene gusto a caramel. It tastes like caramel. (lit. It has the taste of caramel.)

Tiene un gusto amargo. It has a bitter taste.

But as Murkilator has pointed out the actual verb gustar doesn't really mean 'to like', instead it means 'to please'.

So ...

me (to me) gustas (you are pleasing),

me (to me) gustan (they are pleasing),

me (to me) gusta (he/she/it is pleasing) etc

but of course we don't speak like that in English so the best translation is 'I like you', I like them', 'I like him/her/it'.... etc

To understand how to use gustar it might help if you think about one of the few verbs in English that still works in a similar way ... disgust: 'it' disgusts me, or 'they' disgust me etc.

There are more Spanish verbs like gustar and if you'd like to learn more here's a little lesson on the subject.