No les gusta el marisco - they don't like shellfish

Question

I'm having trouble understanding this translation:

No les gusta el marisco = they don't like shellfish.

Why isn't it 'No gustan el marisco'? Shouldn't it be 'gustan' which means 'they like' from the verb 'gustar'?

And what is the 'les' doing here? Doesn't this basically mean 'to them'? I.e Les doy = I give to them.

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum , we want to help you so fill out your profile If you have a problem PM a mod Bienvenido al foro. Queremos ayudarle, entonces hay que llenar su perfil. Si hay un problema, envíe un mensaje personal (PM) - ray76, Jul 6, 2015

:) - ian-hill, Jul 6, 2015

Read this and see if it answers your question: http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/gustar.htm - bosquederoble, Jul 6, 2015

Answer 1

The subject is el marisco here which is singular.
The shellfish give them (les) pleasure. (les=indirect object, pleasure, unstated is the direct object)

If you use los masiscos instead, then the subject is plural and you would use gustan.

no me gusta el marisco (shellfish in general, singular) - use gusta

no me gustan los mariscos (implies various types of shellfish (plural) - use gustan

In English shellfish is not changed to shellfishes but (like people) and many other non-countable nouns it can be used as a singular or a plural.

Shellfish is good for you. (OK) Shellfish are good for you. (OK)

Many shellfish is delicious (NO) (Many makes this a countable noun phrase in plural)
Many shellfish are delicious. (OK) (this means many types of shellfish)
Many types of shellfish are delicious. (OK, shellfish is singluar, but types is plural)

Answer 2

No LES gusta el marisco/ A ELLOS no les gusta el marisco = they don't like shellfish.

If you say no gustan el marisco. basically you are saying that these people are nasty and the shellfish dont have place in the sentence. Only as a question or with the preposition "de" you can put it with out les with the meaning you say. ¿gustan un poco de marisco/ quieren/desean/ un poco de marisco? Do you want a littel shelfish?

Ellos no gustan de marisco. They dont use to eat marisco. But this expresion is not very used Refer to the second question:

LES is TO THEM it is right but not necesary to i.

Yo les doy i give to them Tu les das. Yo guive to them. El les da . He gives to them. Nosotros les damos. We guive to them Vosotros les dais. You guive to them Ellos les dan. They guive them.

The person who guves is indicated in the conjugation of the verb

Please correct my english

Answer 3

1/ Perhaps the easiest way to deal with "gustar" is to understand it to mean "to be pleasing to"

2/ You can see immediately that this verb (and others like it) is used with an indirect object pronoun. i.e. "pleasing to me, to you, to him, to us, to you, to them"

3/ "Shellfish (a singular noun) is not pleasing to them" "No les gusta el marisco"

4/ The English version of this would normally be expressed as "They don't like shellfish"

Cheers

Padrin: For English speakers I think gustar = "to give pleasure to someone" is even better. This way the need for an indirect object is apparent, while with "to be pleasing to" it would seem to require a direct object. - DilKen, Jul 8, 2015

Whichever version aids your understanding of the necessity for an indirect pronoun is fine by me. - padrin, Jul 9, 2015

Answer 4

La oración correcta es: Ellos No gustan del marisco.

Nos is for 1st person plural. Us...We. Les is correct for third person plural indirect object. - DilKen, Jul 6, 2015

la frase ellos nos gustan del marisco, está mal la mires por donde la mires. no tiene ni pies ni cabeza - 000a35ff, Jul 7, 2015

Disculpen, fue un error de digitación. La oración es Ellos no gustan del marisco. Saludos desde Peru. - felixyrocio, Jul 7, 2015

A ellos no les gusta el marisco. - DilKen, Jul 8, 2015