Using Spanish verb gustar to express personal attraction

Expressing personal attraction in Spanish with gustar

The verb gustar is used in Spanish to express when a person finds another person attractive in that special romantic way! In the UK we often translate this as he fancies you, but in this lesson we will translate it as he likes you

In this case Spanish uses personal pronouns, i.e yo, tú, usted, él, ella, nosotros-as, vosotros-as, ellos-as.

The verb gustar in these cases functions as a "normal" conjugated verb which is different to how you use gustar when you want to express that you like something or like doing something. Find the link at the bottom of the lesson to revise this. 

Most importantly, the subject in these sentences is the person who is liked, not the person who is doing the liking. This can cause confusion for learners. It can help to think of the literal translation, to say you like me, you literally have to say I am pleasing to you. See below.

Let's see how this works in El Presente:

yo gusto
gustas
él / ella / Ud. gusta
nosotros /nosotras  gustamos
vosotros / vosotras   gustáis
ellos / ellas / Uds.  gustan

Take a look at this sentence that means You like me but which can more literally be translated as I am pleasing to you:

Yo te gusto a ti.
You like me.

Both te and a ti refer to the person I am pleasing to, in this case you. In fact, a ti reinforces te. We can omit a ti and the meaning of the sentence does not change:

Yo te gusto.
You like me.

And, as you may be aware, in Spanish we often omit the subject pronouns, so you can also say:

Te gusto.
You like me.

More examples

me gustas.I like you.

Yo le gusto.He/she likes me.

le gustas.He/she likes you.

Vosotros le gustáis.He/she fancies you (plural).

Ella le gusta.He/she likes her.

Ellos le gustan.He/she fancies them.

Nosotros te gustamos a ti.You like us.

Vosotras me gustáis a mí.I like you (plural).

Ellas os gustan a vosotros.You (plural) like them (plural).

The pronouns underlined in the examples above show who is doing the liking  which in Spanish are indirect object pronouns because this structure can be literally translated as Someone is pleasing/attractive to someone.

We can omit [without changing any meaning]:

    1. the subject (Yo, tú...)
    2. the pronouns with a (a ti, a mí, a ella...)

But the indirect object (te, me, le...) cannot be omitted.

Grammatical structure

For learners, the main complexity of these sentences is the "inversion" of the subject when we compare it to the construction in English. Take this example:

Yo te gusto = You like me

Yo te gusto = You like me

Yo (I) = subject
te (to you) = indirect object
gusto (am pleasing) = verb

You like meYo te gusto

You like meYo te gusto

You = subject
like = verb
me = direct object

Notice how the subject in the Spanish sentence (yo) becomes the object in the English sentence (me). And the object in the Spanish sentence (te) becomes the subject in the English sentence (you).

Some students find it easier to follow the more literal translation using the verb "to please" instead of "to like"; this way the subject and the conjugated verb is easier to identify and it follows the English structure. For example:

me gustas 

You please me

¿Yo te gusto?

Do I please you?

This way it is more of a direct translation.

Reciprocity or liking each other

When the "liking" is reciprocal (i.e liking each other) then we will use the plural reflexive pronounsnos, os, se.

Have a look at the following examples:

Nosotras nos gustamos mucho.We like each other a lot.

Vosotros os gustáis mucho.You (plural) like each other a lot.

Ellos se gustan mucho.They like/fancy each other a lot.

 See also Using gustar in Spanish to say you like something.

 

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Examples and resources

me gustas.I like you.
Nosotros te gustamos a ti.You like us.
le gustas.He/she likes you.
Ellas os gustan a vosotros.You (plural) like them (plural).
Vosotros os gustáis mucho.You (plural) like each other a lot.
Yo le gusto.He/she likes me.
Ella le gusta.He/she likes her.
Yo te gusto.You like me.
Ellos le gustan.He/she fancies them.
Vosotras me gustáis a mí.I like you (plural).
Usted le gusta a ella.She likes you [formal].
Ustedes les gustan a ellos.They like you [plural]
Ellos se gustan mucho.They like/fancy each other a lot.
Nosotras nos gustamos mucho.We like each other a lot.
Vosotros le gustáis.He/she fancies you (plural).
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