Gustar and similar verbs; también / tampoco

What it is

Spanish has no verb that works quite like English "like". Gustar means "to please", so Spanish says Me gusta el café, literally "coffee pleases me". The thing you like is the subject of the verb, and the person who likes it is a pronoun: me, te, le, nos, les. Encantar (to love, to really like) and interesar (to interest) work the same way.

How to form it

Choose the pronoun for the person who likes something:

Then make the verb agree with the thing, not with the person:

• The noun takes the article, even when you mean things in general: Me gusta el chocolate. Me gustan las películas.
• No goes before the pronoun: No me gusta el fútbol.
• To name the person, or to stress or contrast them, add a mí, a ti, a él, a ella, a usted, a nosotros, a ellos, a ustedes or a + a name: A Carlos le gusta el béisbol. A mis padres les gusta viajar. The pronoun stays: A mí me gusta, never A mí gusta.
• encantar already means "like a lot", so it doesn't need mucho: Me encantan los tacos. With gustar, "a lot" is mucho: Me gusta mucho.
• interesar follows the same pattern: Me interesa la historia. Nos interesan los idiomas.

In Spain, os gusta is the form for vosotros. Latin America uses les gusta: ¿A ustedes les gusta?

When to use it

Use these verbs to talk about tastes and hobbies, to ask other people about theirs, and to react. To agree or disagree, keep the a mí form:

With ordinary verbs the subject is yo, so the reply uses yo: —Hablo inglés. —Yo también. —No hablo ruso. —Yo tampoco.

• Me gusta mucho bailar, pero no me gustan las discotecas.I really like dancing, but I don't like nightclubs.gusta + infinitive, gustan + plural
• —A mí me encanta el cine. —¡A mí también!—I love cinema. —Me too!agreeing with a positive
• A Diego le gustan los videojuegos y a su hermana también.Diego likes video games, and so does his sister.a + name + le
• ¿Les gusta la comida peruana?Do you all like Peruvian food?ustedes → les
• —No me gusta el pescado. —A mí tampoco.—I don't like fish. —Me neither.agreeing with a negative
• A Camila y a mí nos interesan mucho los idiomas.Camila and I are very interested in languages.interesar works like gustar

Contrasts and traps

• gusta or gustan? Look at the thing, not the person: A mis hijos les gusta el fútbol (one sport, so gusta, however many children).
• le or les? le for one person, les for more than one: A Lucía le gusta…, A Lucía y a Pedro les gusta…
• también or tampoco? también agrees with a positive sentence, tampoco with a negative one. A mí sí and a mí no disagree.
• Yo gusto exists, but it means "I am liked": Le gusto a Ana = Ana likes me.
• mí or mi? a mí (to me) has an accent; mi without one means "my".
• ¡Encantado! is something else: it means "Nice to meet you".

If you also speak Portuguese

Gostar de works like English "like": eu gosto de café. Spanish turns the sentence around: Me gusta el café, with no yo, no de, and with the article. Eu também is A mí también; eu também não is A mí tampoco.