Do we need el/la after gustar?

Question

I’m trying to unlearn or clarify some things about this verb. Could you comment on if these examples are correct or wrong and provide a short explanation? “A ti te gusta pollo?” “Me gusta pensar.” “Me gusta todo.” “Les gustan criticarme.” “A mi no me gustan ellos.” “Ellos no les gusta a mi.”

Accepted Answer

Hola Rob
 “A ti te gusta EL pollo"
You need the article here if what you say is that you like something (in singular or plural)
 
"Me gusta pensar"
Correct. When you say you like "doing something" you just need the infinitive.
 
"Les gustA criticarme."
You need the verb in singular because when the subject is an infinitive, (like before with "pensar") the verb is used in singular (so, les gustan criticarme would be incorrect)
 
"Me gusta todo"
Correct. With "todo" you don't need any article.
 
"A mi no me gustan ellos."
Correct. If you invert the order you can probably see it more clearly: "Ellos no me gustan a mí." (They are not pleasing to me, i.e. I don't like them: the verb is agreeing in plural with the subject ellos)
 
“Ellos no les gusta a mi.”
Incorrect. I'm not sure what you meant here, I imagine you meant  "They don't like me"? For this, you need:
Yo no les gusto a ellos.
This is a bit different to the structure of gustar seen so far. When you express "liking/attraction" between people we no longer follow the same basic rule. For this we have this other advanced lesson. Have a look here for gustar: personal attraction.
Saludos cordiales

Answer

I think the last one should be “A ellos no les gusto yo”. Literally - I’m not pleasing them. Or in a conventional way - They don’t like me.   Also - Les gusta (singular) criticarme.