Why "Me gusta"

Question

When you look up the word "gustar", all of the examples for "I like" say " Me gusta". Why not "Me gusto"?

I won't actually post because I'm not a native speaker but when you say 'me gusta' I believe you are saying 'it pleases me' or 'it is pleasing to me'. 'gusta' is third person. I hope this helps Ranman...and crikey I hope I'm right. lol - 0095ca4c, Oct 25, 2013

Thanks Maggie; ) - Ranman, Oct 25, 2013

You're welcome Ranman but after reading a couple of the responses, now I'm confuddled. - 0095ca4c, Oct 27, 2013

Answer 1

This is a problem many English speakers have with Spanish. The verb gustar literally means "to please," not "to like." The other problem is that when you use gustar you use it in the third person, meaning that the item you are talking about does the "pleasing" so to speak.

So with what you have there, "Me gusto" means "I like myself," or more inappropriately "I please myself."

So looking into it deeper, the object, which we'll say is an apple for now does the action and you get a sentence like this: Me gusta la manzana. I like the apple (lit. The apple is pleasing to me)

You can see this really take effect in the third person plural, this time instead of one apple we'll use all the apples: Me gustan las manzanas I like apples (lit. Apples are pleasing to me.)

You can see here how the verb changes with the object being liked.

I hope this helps, if you need more of an explanation please ask.

I get it: ) - Ranman, Oct 25, 2013

Thank you: ) - Ranman, Oct 25, 2013

Glad I could help. - Vida_de_Scott, Oct 28, 2013

Answer 2

This is one of those "don't think in English first" verbs. There are several words like gustar where it is conjugated with the subject coming after the verb it agrees with, completely backwards to English.

And why? Well, one day long ago, some Spanish guy said, "I bet this will give Ranman a headache someday... let's change 'gustar' to mean 'it pleases'. So all this because of someone's evil pranks. ha. Dew yew believe me?

Here is a video from Professor Jason: Professor Jason on Gustar

I'd believe anything you told me: ) - Ranman, Oct 25, 2013

Thanks katy, I've just subscribed to Jason. - 0095ca4c, Oct 27, 2013

Glad to be of help... Ranman, the sky is falling. - katydew, Oct 27, 2013

Answer 3

This link may help from an earlier post: gusto/gusta

This is from that link too.

Gusto = Taste

To like = gustar

I like (it) - Me gusta

I like myself = Me gusto

Chileno

Thanks Sis: ) - Ranman, Oct 25, 2013

Plagiarism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D - chileno, Oct 27, 2013

No es plagio te dio el crédito. jejejejeje - rac1, Oct 27, 2013

Answer 4

Because it is actually saying it pleases me not I like it

Thank you : ) - Ranman, Oct 25, 2013

Answer 5

When you look up the word "gustar", all of the examples for "I like" say " Me gusta". Why not "Me gusto"?

Perhaps, it's for the same reason that the English verb "disgust" employs constructions such as "it disgusts me" rather than "I disgust to myself." Such constructions might not seem so strange after all if you consider that other expressions in English follow similar patterns such as

*It bothers me

*It pleases me

*It annoys me

*It sickens me

*It suits me

*It worries me

The main difference here being that Spanish employs an indirect object pronoun; whereas, English uses a direct object.

Answer 6

aylino - I like APPLES = MANZANAS ME gustan

Vida_de_Scott - Me gustan las manzanas I like apples

Are both the above correct?

No. :) - chileno, Oct 27, 2013

I'm glad you popped in chileno. I was beginning to think I had had too much lemon in my tea. :-) - 0095ca4c, Oct 27, 2013

Answer 7

me gustó = i liked

me gustaba - i use to like

me gusta - i like

Answer 8

Very easy!.When the verb gustar means like.The subject of the verb gustar always is the direct object of the verb like and the direct object of the verb like always is the subject of the verb gustar:

I like YOU = TU ME gustas

YOU like me = IO TE gusto

HE likes YOU = TU LE gustas

YOU like HIM = EL TE gusta

I like APPLES = MANZANAS ME gustan

HE likes BEER = CERVEZA LE gusta

!Muy fácil!.Cuando el verbo gustar significa like.El sujecto del verbo gustar siempre es el complemento directo del verbo like y el complemento directo del verbo like siempre es el sujecto del verbo gustar:

I like YOU = TU ME gustas

YOU like me = IO TE gusto

HE likes YOU = TU LE gustas

YOU like HIM = EL TE gusta

I like APPLES = MANZANAS ME gustan

HE likes BEER = CERVEZA LE gusta