El Verbo Gustar

I have already blogged about this verb before, back when I reviewed Track #42 of Language Transfer, but I still find it confusing. Sin embargo, hoy asistí un evento de Duolingo con Jackie. She is an anthropologist. Su clase es in inglés y respuesta las preguntas del estudiantes. Su explicación del verbo gustar is bueno.

She explained that the verb gustar comes from Latin and is based on the senses. Maybe related to gastronomy? That's a guess. Anyways here is here explanation of gustar.

First, it means 'to please' or 'to be pleasing' or metaphorically speaking 'to be tasty' especially as in giving pleasure to one's senses.

• The subject of the verb is what gives pleasure. usually that's food, a hobby, a place or something that's not a person
• Like any verb it must agree in person and in number with its subject. So because we're usually talking about a food or a hobby or a place, we usually see 'gustar' in the third person
• Then you either talking about a hobby (singular) - gusta or hobbies (plural) gustan

Second, somebody has to receive the pleasure that gustar gives

• The person who receives the benefit or effect of an action is the indirect object versus the direct object which is the person who receives the direct action of the verb. For example: I kicked the ball to him. The direct object is ball and the indirect object is him
• In Spanish we use indirect object pronouns with the verb gustar to indicate to whom does the thing give pleasure.

Unos ejemplos:

• La comida mexicana me gusto mucho. I like Mexican food a lot.
• A ella le gusta caminar en el parque. She likes to walk in the park.
• Nos gustan las peliculas cubanas. We like Cuban movies.