The gustar they don't tell you about, liking "you" "me" or "us"

rocinante says on May 26, 2008, 16:19:

Answer:

If you're here because you know get out of this thread. If you said something like "Te gustan los alumnos y los alumnos les gusta a ti" - you belong here.

The questions again:

How would you say to your teacher in the informal: "You like the students and they like you" = Te gustan los alumnos y (también) les gustas.

"I like the students and the the students like me." = Me gustan los alumnos y les gusto.

Ask your significant other "Do you like me?" using Gustar - The way is "¿Te gusto?".




WHAT THE? - OK how to learn the above:


The other three conjugations - sorry Vosotros Spain - and the English translation:

gusto "X like(s) me"
gustas "X like(s) you"
gustamos "X like(s) us"

So if you want to say 'he likes us' : "a él le gustamos"

Remember that the person doing the liking is the IO pronoun (mi,te,le,nos,les) and the thing being liked is the conjugated verb - THE SAME AS IT ALWAYS WAS - so if the thing being liked is "me Roci" or "you informal" the conjugated Gustar is "gusto" or "gustas" respectively.


He likes me "le gusto"
They like me "les gusto"
You like me "te gusto"

He likes you "le gustas"
They like you "les gustas"
We like you "nos gustas"

He likes us "le gustamos"
They like us "les gustamos"
You like us "te gustamos"

The old way and the new way are really the same way. In the past the thing being liked was always some singular or plural object(s). In what I have posted the thing being liked is "you" "me" or "us"

This is why in the "new way" NOTHING needs to come after gustar. Example - old and "new":

(old) No me gustan las rubias - I don't like blondes
("new") No me gustas - I don't like you.

In the second example YOU is built into the conjugated verb (gustas) so Las Rubias or any other clarification is not necessary. Also if we have been talking about blondes I could say "No me gustan" and leave it at that because Blondes is understood.

Same as it always was - but no one ever teaches it - oh and it's HIGHLY used in everyday speech. She doesn't like me. The cop doesn't like you, They don't like us. Steve likes us. She likes you.... Although there are other ways to say all of this using other verbs too, this is a lesson on Gustar and this way is very, very common

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Peso 1400 by November" Feb 5, 2008

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houstongal says on May 27, 2008, 09:47:

Thanks Roci. You just answered a question on the use of gustar that I always wondered about. I've always heard people use "gusto" and couldn't figure out when it would be used (nor could I find it in my books). Thanks for solving that mystery for me.

Culture is language and language is culture - Dr. Annamaria Napolitano

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Bellita says on May 27, 2008, 14:54:

Do you like me? = Te gusto?

I like the students and they like me"= Me gustan los estudiantes y ellos gustan de mi.

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rocinante says on May 28, 2008, 09:13:

Bellita what you say is gramatically correct "Me gustan los estudiantes y ellos gustan de mi" but never ever used. But let's talk about it:

The construct is using gustar like you would hablar - using "Gustar DE" direct (no IO pronoun - just like most verbs)

IT IS SO PRETENTIOUS that it is just not used. Bellita can you imagine saying "Yo gusto de frijoles con garra". ???? Never. It may be used by art critics or someone talking about a concept or idea but NEVER an infinitive. Eg: Maybe if you are totally pretentious "Yo gusto de la moda" or "Yo gutso de la música" = "I take an absolute pleasure in music/fashion I can almost taste it".

A really good bilingual friend here told me a while ago that if she ever heard a guy say to her "Yo gusto de ti" she would run screaming - and she IS pretentious from estrato 6.

But you are right, Gustar can be used directly: "Gustar" plus "de" plus article plus noun.

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Peso 1400 by November" Feb 5, 2008

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Bellita says on May 28, 2008, 14:14:

Hi Rocinante,
I am not really sure if it is grammatically correct or not. It just sounds the way I would say it. I am originally from Colombia so Spanish is my first language.. "ellos gustan de mi" does not sound weird to me at all....but I could also say "yo les gusto a ellos" and it means the same thing.
However, I would not say "yo gusto de frijoles con garra" it does not sound pretentious but it just does not sound like everyday speaking. "Gustar" is a very tricky verb huh?
anyways, this forum is very interesting for me since I want to be a Spanish teacher here in the Sates.

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rocinante says on May 28, 2008, 15:43:

Bellita - IF you don't mind me asking where in Colombia and how old were you when you moved to wherever you live now?

Yes what you wrote is grammatically correct cien porciento - pero el problema es que Colombia is a big country AND there are so many regionalisms and disparities even in the same country - now lets bring in the other 20 some odd countries.

I guess it’s always good as en educator to teach the Queen’s Spanish as per La RAE. But this is a Colombian forum and even though Peter wants this to be a Travel Forum with a Travel Spanish Section (where we are now) most people can buy a phrase book and say “Qué hora es? Dónde está el baño?, Quiero una cerveza��?

However as you know in Colombia when one is traveling through and needs to know what time it is, it is not really socially acceptable to bark out “Qué hora es?��? to a stranger on the street.

Rest assured that in Medellín "Ellos gustan de mi" is very rare in just about all levels of speaking.

Either way, yes, gustar is a tricky verb and the main point is that every book and class I've ever seen never teaches anything other than 3rd person singular/plural - and there's so much more than that.

Good luck teaching Spanish in the states. What is your approach? Are you developing a curriculum on your own or following one already created? Communication vs Grammar? Combo? How do you feel about Drills? Stephen Krashen? Robert O’Neill? Bill VanPatten?

If you really want to nerd out:

http://www.eslminiconf.net/thegreatdebate.html

Here’s a great article for the Communicative Strategy guys – although it took the subject 12 years of full emersion (almost 3 years before he would participate in small conversations) – Imagine how fast this could have occurred if he had a grammatical base from the beginning behind the reinforcement:

http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/what_does_it_take/all.html

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Peso 1400 by November" Feb 5, 2008

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goin_south says on May 28, 2008, 17:52:

when I would call Paisa29's travel agency in Medellin, the guy answering the phone, would always reply: "Que Mucho Gusto!".. upon my request to speak with D.A.

Colombia es

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rocinante says on May 28, 2008, 18:05:

CON mucho gusto - gusto is a noun in this case meaning 'pleasure' - con (mucho) gusto means "With pleasure"

'Con (mucho) gusto' is a great phrase if someone asks you to do something, "Can you help me carry this table" "Con gusto"

If you want to be formal and really polite and someone says to you "Con gusto" you can reply "El gusto es mio" (The pleasure is mine)

Placer is a bit more formal than gusto but means pleasure as well. Not all that common in Medellín but you never know when you are going to meet the President:

por ejemplo if someone says "Fue/Es un placer" (It was/is a pleasure) you can reply with "El placer fue/es mio" (The pleasure was/is mine)

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Peso 1400 by November" Feb 5, 2008

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Bellita says on May 29, 2008, 14:47:

Rocinante,
I left Bogota about 5 years ago and I am 28 years old. you are right about "regionalisms and disparities even in the same country" I am a "rola" and sometimes I get confused by some words my best friend from San Andres uses. And I remember my friends from Medellin thought the way we talk in Bogota was funny.

About teaching Spanish in the Sates, I am not doing it yet. I am finishing my first two years of college and I am transferring to the University of Washington in the winter to get my degree in either "Linguistics" or "Romance Languages"
It looks like an exciting career. Thank you for the links I will check them out later.
Bellita

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goin_south says on May 31, 2008, 23:58:

awwwh... thanks for correcting me; si: con mucho gusto

Colombia es

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el flaco says on Aug 20, 2008, 03:06:

The way I approach gustar is to think of it this way. The Spanish don't say "I like" etc but instead "it pleases me" where gustar is "to please". Hence it is the reverse of what we do, the subject is always what pleases us.

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