Tips 007: How To Use Verbs Like Gustar To Express Your Ideas

Verbs like gustar operate in a group of their own. In this episode of the podcast, I discuss ‘gustar’, other similar verbs and how they are used.

This theoretical Thursday builds on last week’s tip including more useful vocabulary that can be used for conversational Spanish. The verbs discussed fit in well with the conversation hacking framework as they are included in the top 1000 most useful Spanish words.

Spanish verbs, in general, can be categorised into two groups of three.

Group 1:

• Ar verbs


• Er verbs


• Ir verbs

Group 2:

• Normal verbs


• Verbs like Gustar (discussed in this tip)


• Reflexive verbs (coming in a later episode)

Verbs discussed in the episode:

• Gustar – Is pleasing to (to like)


• Costar – Is costly to (to cost)


• Doler – Is painful to (to hurt)


• Importar – Is important to (to matter)


• Parecer – Is seeming to (to seem)

Indirect object pronouns explained in the episode:

• Me – Me


• Te –You


• Le – Him / Her


• Nos – Us


• Os – You-all


• Les – Them

Examples from the episode:

• Me gusta la comida – I like the food


• No me gusta la comida – I don’t like the food


• Me gusta hablar – I like to speak


• Me gustan los colores – I like the colours


• Me cuesta hablar – I find it difficult to speak


• Me cuesta hablar Español – I find it difficult to speak Spanish


• Me duele la cabeza – I have a headache


• Me importa la fiesta – The party is important to me


• ¿Que te parece la idea? – How does the idea seem to you?


• Me parece bien – It seems good to me


• Me parece mal – It seems bad to me

Quote from the podcast episode:

“Me gusta la gente que habla claro desde el principio, que son honestos con lo que sienten, piensan y se muestran tal y como son.” – @BuenaFraseEs

Other verbs that behave in this way are highlighted by using similar definitions as the ones described in this episode in the conversation hacking guide.

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