De Tapas y Cañas - Tapas and Beers
Me Gusta, Nos Gusta - Saying What You Like
You've ordered tapas. Now somebody asks ¿te gusta? — do you like it? This lesson is the gateway to that whole conversation. Spanish doesn't say "I like ham" the way English does. It says ham is pleasing to me. Once you flip your brain into that shape, me gusta el jamón, me encantan las gambas, no me interesa el pulpo all click into place — and you can finally say what you actually want at the table.
Why Gustar Is Backwards
In English: I like ham. The subject is I, the verb is like, the object is ham.
In Spanish: Me gusta el jamón. The subject is el jamón, the verb is gusta, and the me at the front means "to me". Literally: Ham is pleasing to me.
That tiny flip is why the verb agrees with the food, not with you. You don't conjugate gustar for "I" — there's no yo gusto here. You only ever need two forms:
- gusta — when one thing is pleasing
- gustan — when more than one thing is pleasing
| What's pleasing | Verb form | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular noun | gusta | Me gusta el queso. | I like cheese. |
| Plural noun | gustan | Me gustan las gambas. | I like prawns. |
| A verb (infinitive) | gusta | Me gusta cocinar. | I like cooking. |
| Two verbs | gusta | Me gusta comer y beber. | I like eating and drinking. |
A small but important rule: with infinitives (cocinar, comer, beber), always use gusta, never gustan. Verbs count as a single thing.
Who Is It Pleasing To? The Six Pronouns
The little word at the front (me) tells you whose taste we're talking about. There are six of them — one per person. You'll see this exact set again in Module 7 when we cover indirect-object pronouns properly. For now, just learn them as the marker that comes with gustar:
| Pronoun | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| me | to me | Me gusta el vino tinto. |
| te | to you (informal) | ¿Te gusta el pulpo? |
| le | to him / her / you (formal) | Le gusta el café solo. |
| nos | to us | Nos gustan las croquetas. |
| os | to you all (informal, Spain) | ¿Os gustan las aceitunas? |
| les | to them / to you all (formal) | Les gusta cenar tarde. |
Note the Castilian os — same form as the vosotros pronoun in M5. ¿Os gusta la tortilla? is the question your friend will ask you and your partner the moment a plate hits the table.
Encantar and Interesar — Same Shape
Two more verbs follow the exact same backwards pattern. They're the upgrade and the downshift of gustar:
- encantar — to love (food, places, songs). Literally: "to delight". Me encanta el jamón. — I love ham.
- interesar — to find interesting (a topic, an idea). Me interesa la política. — I find politics interesting.
Two notes that save you from beginner mistakes:
- Don't say me gusta mucho mucho when you really love something. Spaniards say me encanta. It's not over-the-top — it's the everyday word for "I love this".
- Never say yo encanto or yo interesar. Like gustar, these only ever come in encanta / encantan and interesa / interesan.
Saying You Don't Like It
Putting no in front works the same way as with any verb:
- No me gusta el pulpo. — I don't like octopus.
- No nos gustan las patatas bravas. — We don't like patatas bravas.
- A Carlos no le gusta el queso. — Carlos doesn't like cheese.
That last one shows a useful trick: when you want to name the person, put **a
- name** at the start. A mí me gusta, a ti te gusta, a mi madre le gusta. Spaniards use this constantly to contrast tastes: a mí me encanta, pero a ella no le gusta nada.
A small Castilian note on pronunciation: picante and gracias carry the theta — pronounced pee-KAHN-teh and GRAH-thee-ahs in Spain.
Practice
Words to Remember
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| gustar | to be pleasing (to like) |
| encantar | to love (be delighted by) |
| interesar | to interest |
| el queso | the cheese |
| el pescado | the fish |
| la carne | the meat |
| el marisco | the seafood |
| el pulpo | the octopus |
| las gambas | the prawns |
| picante | spicy |
| dulce | sweet |
| salado | salty |
| soso | bland / unsalted |
| demasiado | too / too much |
| riquísimo | delicious (really tasty) |
| ¡qué rico! | how tasty! |
Conversation
Choosing tapas
Ana: ¿A ti te gusta el pulpo? Do you like octopus?
Pablo: No, no me gusta nada. Pero me encantan las gambas. No, I don't like it at all. But I love prawns.
Ana: Vale, pues gambas. OK, prawns then.
Talking about cheese
Pablo: ¿Te gusta el queso manchego? Do you like manchego cheese?
Ana: Me encanta. A los dos nos gusta, ¿verdad? I love it. We both like it, right?
Pablo: Sí, una ración entonces. Yes, a ración then.
Spicy or not
Camarero: ¿Os gusta picante? Las bravas pican un poco. Do you like it spicy? The bravas are a bit spicy.
Ana: A mí sí, a Pablo no. I do, Pablo doesn't.
Pablo: Mejor sin picante, por favor. Better without the spice, please.
Practice
Recall
Type the Spanish for each English meaning. Leave a row blank if you draw a blank — that counts as a miss.
Practice
Translation Exercise
Translate each English sentence into Spanish.
Cultural Note
In Spain, saying no me gusta about food is not rude — it's expected. At a Spanish table, people argue about food the way other cultures argue about sport. Someone will declare odio el pulpo ("I hate octopus"), someone else will gasp and call them a heretic, and the conversation will roll into which village in Galicia does it best. Politely picking at something you don't like, the way you might at a dinner party in London or Boston, is what feels weird here.
The one word to use carefully is soso. Calling food picante, salado, dulce or even malo is a normal critique. Calling it soso ("bland", "underseasoned") is the worst thing you can say — it's the Spanish food equivalent of telling someone their joke wasn't funny. Use rico ("tasty") or, even better, riquísimo ("really tasty") when the food is good. Está riquísimo is the phrase that earns a smile from the cook every time.