Did I use the verb gustar correctly?
So I recently had a test in my Spanish class on the verb gustar. The question read "Uds. / ver películas dobladas" so the answer I gave was "Uds. les gusta ver películas dobladas". My teacher marked it wrong saying that I have to use "gustan" because it's talking about a plural subject "movies", but I thought the sentence was saying "You guys like to watch dubbed movies" not "You guys like dubbed movies" therefore it would be "gusta", wouldn't it? I typed it into the translator and it said "gusta" as well. I even asked a girl in my class who speaks spanish, but she told me I was wrong too. So what is the correct answer???
EDIT: Thank you everyone for your answers. I brought it to the attention of my teacher and she changed my grade from a 97 to a well deserved 100. This is her first year teaching, so I tried to go easy on her. As for the Spanish speaking girl, when I showed her my paper, she didn't see the word "ver" which is why she told me it was wrong. Again, thank you everyone, especially Observer. Your answer was very helpful 
13 Answers
"Uds. les gusta ver películas dobladas"
Despite what others have told you, your suspicion that the verb "gustar" should be conjugated in the singular is correct.
The issue at hand seems to revolve around how to properly inflect our main verb when it is accompanied by a verbal noun. Fortunately, this particular grammatical concept should be somewhat instinctual as there is quite a bit of similarity in the way that verbal nouns are treated in both Spanish and English. Let's take a look at a few examples:
Comer las fresas es bueno para la salud. -- Eating strawberries is good for your health.
Here we have the noun phrase "Comer las fresas/Eating strawberries" acting as the subject of our sentence. Notice that the noun phrase is headed by a verbal noun "comer/eating" and that this verbal noun carries with it a plural complement, "las fresas/strawberries."
As I mentioned earlier, it is no difficult task to realize that the singular verb form of our linking verb (i.e. "es/is") is required for our sentence to be considered grammatically sound. Notice the effect, for example, of replacing our singular verb with its plural analog:
Comer las fresas son buenos para la salud/Eating strawberries are good for your health.
In both the English and the Spanish versions the use of the plural form of the verb above should stand out as a glaring error. This is due to the fact that the headword for our noun phrase must be considered as a singular notion. This singularity might become even more evident if we were to strip the verbal noun of its complement and leave it in its simplest form. Compare, for example the following two sets of sentences:
Comer es bueno para la salud. -vs- Comer son bueno para la salud.
Eating is good for your health. -vs- Eating are good for your health.
Use of the plural verb forms should strike us immediately as being ungrammatical.
If we extend these concepts to the original sentence in question, we can see that the subject of our sentence is the noun phrase "ver películas dobladas." Like our examples above, this particular noun phrase is headed by a verbal noun (ver) that is also accompanied by a complement (películas dobladas).
As has already been illustrated above, when our verbal noun acts as the subject of a sentence, it requires that the main verb carry an inflection that match the singular nature of the subject. In this case, our verb is "gustar," and to properly conjugate it, we must use the singular "gusta."
Now at this point, I would like to point out that there is, in fact, nothing at all special about the relationship between these so-called special verbs (often taught under the heading of "verbs like gustar") and their subjects. That is to say that in terms of inflection, they behave just like any other verb. While some have contended that such verbs behave in a "backwards" sort of manner in comparison to typical English verbs, I would like to offer up an example or two in an effort to dispute this claim.
First, it might be helpful to consider that the Spanish verb "gustar" acts very similarly to the English verb "disgust," a verb with which it shares a common root. Likewise, the Spanish verb "disgustar" is even more similar in form, despite the fact that it carries a slightly different connotation to its English counterpart (in Spanish, the verb disgustar might best be conceptualized as "to annoy or irritate;" whereas, the English verb "to disgust" is more along the lines of "to sicken or nauseate" or "to be abhorrent or repugnant."
Having noted this similarity in form, we can take our analogy a step further by comparing how certain English verbs do, in fact, act in a similar manner to these so-called "special" Spanish verbs:
Your behavior disgusts me/It disgusts me.
Here we can see that the person being disgusted is represented syntactically by the verb's complement; whereas, the verb's subject is actually the source of revulsion. The verb "annoy" works in a similar fashion:
Watching dubbed movies annoys me/It annoys me.
Again, we can see that the person being annoyed is represented by the verb's object, and the source of irritation is represented by its subject. Likewise, in Spanish, the verb "gustar" takes as its subject, the source of enjoyment or pleasure and as its complement, the person affected pleasurably by said source.
Les gusta ver las películas
Subject - ver las películas [singular]
Verb - gusta [singular]
Indirect Object - les
To further our analysis, we might take a look at a few more examples. Consider the following sentence:
Les gusta ver las películas.
A phrase that might reasonably (though not literally) be translated to English as
They like to watch movies.
One useful manipulation that we can make involves tinkering with the verbal complements and noting the effect. Let's begin with the noun phrases "ver las películas/watching movies"
English
- Watching movies irritates me/It irritates me to watch movies.
- Watching them irritates me/It irritates me to watch them.
Spanish
- Me disgusta ver las películas.
- Me disgusta verlas.
Now, let's try another angle:
English
- Watching movies irritates me/It disgusts me to watch movies.
- It irritates me.
Spanish
- Me disgusta ver las películas.
- Me disgusta.
After careful consideration of the examples above, we might realize that the plural noun phrase "las películas/movies" is governed by the verb "ver/to watch;" whereas, the larger, singular noun phrase "ver las películas/watching movies" is governed by the verb "disgustar/to irritate."
Hopefully, this somewhat lengthy exposition has shed at least some light onto the area of confusion.
Aside from your original question, I would like to add one more comment regarding the conformity of your original sentence to some of the more basic grammatical concepts.
In your original you wrote:
Uds. les gusta ver películas dobladas
While you have correctly conjugated your verb to match the subject of the sentence, it is worth noting that you have erred a bit by omitting the preposition "a" which, in Spanish, is obligatory when naming/introducing the verb's indirect object.
A ustedes les gusta ver películas dobladas.
Again, I hope that my commentary has not been too overwhelming and has at least helped in some small way. Good luck with your teacher and all of your language learning goals.
I can't think of a rule off the top of my head (I'll see what I can find) but I would agree with you - to me the thing being liked is 'the action of seeing' (sing) not 'the movies' (plural).
If gusta is followed directly with an infinitive then gustar is in the singular and anything else after that is by the way whether or not they are singular or plural e.g. A mi me gusta leer las novelas románticas. but A mi me gustan las novelas románticas. On the second example I left out the infinative so that makes the verb gustar plural.
Ken´s answer is the most complete because it mentions the necessary A that must come before Uds.
The question read "Uds. / ver películas dobladas" so the answer I gave was "Uds. les gusta ver películas dobladas"
So your answer is incorrect but only because the A is missing. The conjugation is good.
However, we can also say simply: "Les gusta ver pelis dobladas" without A Uds. if the context is known.
I am not a grammarian but I think the subject is watching movies, not movies. If this is correct then gusta is correct as verbs are uncountable and uncountable subjects are always treated as singular.
Not being the world's best grammarian, I think Kiwi has the right track on this. If the sentence was "Uds. les gustan las películas", then the subject of the phrase would be plural, and "les gustan" is correct. "The movies are pleasing to them". But in this case, it is not the movies that are pleasing, but rather the action of viewing them.
Hopefully she can get back with more research on the issue.
Saige, a couple of minor corrections, which I suspect were just typos on your part.
You like Spanish. Te gusta el español.
You like to use Spanish words.Te gustan usar las palabras del español.
That's a really good question, Lizarey; I also had difficulty grasping the concept of gustar.
Your teacher and the native Spanish speaker are both correct.
In English, verbs usually center around the subject, such as "I like to watch movies."
But, in Spanish, there is a catch, a different approach to saying "I like". The most direct translation is "It pleases me." Now, the subject is "it" and the object is me. The verb still focuses on the subject, though. In this case, the subject is "movies" (plural). So the verb gustar needs to agree with the subject in its plural form: gustan.
It took me awhile to grab hold of this, so give yourself some time in thinking it over.
Some examples to look over are:
I like the dog. Me gusta el perro.
I like to watch the dogs. Me gustan ver los perros.
You like coffee. Te gusta café.
You like to see the coffee cups. Te gustan ver las tazas de café.
He likes to play baseball. Le gusta jugar el béisbol.
He likes baseball bats. Le gustan los bates de béisbol.
She likes the pink flower. Le gusta la flor rosa.
She likes flowers. Le gustan las flores.
We like to eat the pineapple. Nos gusta comer la piña.
We like pineapples. Nos gustan las piñas.
You all like Spanish. Les gustan el español.
You all like to use Spanish words. Les gustan usar las palabras del español.
They like the movie. Les gusta ver la película.
They like to watch movies. Les gustan ver las películas.
----- Deleted my incorrect answer but leaving the rest -----
Try to avoid translators, they really aren't reliable. You're better off coming here and trying to translate it yourself and ask someone to verify it. Plus you'll learn more that way.
For you or anyone else who wants a primer on gustar, try this:
Ooo!
Here you go as well - a great explanation and a quiz for you to test if you have understood properly:
I always try to think of it as
Watching dubbed movies pleases you guys.
So it is the dubbed movies that are doing the pleasing, hence it should be 'gustan'
The guys are plural, so the 'les' is plural.
So the Spanish word order is:
You guys, to you, are pleasing, the movies.
(where the italic bits should match one another, and the bold bits should match one another)
you are correct. its les gusta and not les gustan
you are correct. its les gusta and not les gustan
