Conjugation of Verb Gustar in Spanish | Gustar Made Simple

Gustar works backwards: the liked thing is the subject, and the person appears as an indirect object pronoun.

If you’ve ever said yo gusto to mean “I like,” you’ve bumped into the twist that makes gustar feel odd at first. Spanish often frames “likes” as something that pleases a person. Once you lock in that structure, the verb becomes predictable, and the only real work is choosing the right pronoun and verb form.

This article gives you a clean mental model, the pronouns you need, and the most used gustar conjugations in everyday sentences. You’ll also get a troubleshooting checklist near the end that helps you fix the mistakes learners make most.

How gustar sentences are built

Start with the core pattern. Think “X is pleasing to Y.” In Spanish, X is the grammatical subject, and Y is the person receiving the feeling.

• Indirect object pronoun (Y): me, te, le, nos, os, les
• Verb (gustar): usually gusta or gustan in the present
• Subject (X): the thing or action that pleases

That gives you sentences like:

• Me gusta el café. (Coffee pleases me.)
• Nos gustan los libros. (Books please us.)
• Te gusta bailar. (Dancing pleases you.)

Notice two cues that keep you on track:

• If the subject is singular (el café, bailar), you’ll almost always use gusta.
• If the subject is plural (los libros, las películas), you’ll almost always use gustan.

Why the verb often stays in third person

With this structure, you are rarely the subject. The subject is what you like. That’s why you’ll see gusta and gustan far more than forms like gusto in day-to-day “likes.”

Spanish does allow gustar de in some contexts with a more direct meaning like “to enjoy” or “to be fond of,” yet for “I like coffee,” the standard everyday build is the one with indirect object pronouns. You can see that standard construction described in the RAE’s Diccionario panhispánico de dudas entry for “gustar”.

Quick check: Who is the subject here?

If your sentence names a thing you like, that thing is the subject. If your sentence uses an action like “to read,” that action acts like a singular subject, so you use gusta.

• Me gusta leer. (Subject: leer)
• Me gustan las montañas. (Subject: las montañas)

Indirect object pronouns you’ll use with gustar

These pronouns tell you who feels the like. Learn them as a set, since they pop up with many other verbs that work similarly.

• me (to me): Me gusta…
• te (to you, informal singular): Te gustan…
• le (to him/her/you, formal): Le gusta…
• nos (to us): Nos gustan…
• os (to you, informal plural in Spain): Os gusta…
• les (to them/you all, formal): Les gustan…

You can also add a clarifying phrase with a to name the person, especially with le and les:

• A María le gusta el té.
• A mis padres les gustan los viajes.

This “a + person” part can be used for clarity, contrast, or emphasis, while the pronoun still stays. That double-marking is normal Spanish.

Placement with infinitives and clauses

With one verb, the pronoun goes before it: Me gusta. With a verb chain, you have two clean options:

• Before the first verb: Me va a gustar la película.
• Attached to the infinitive: Va a gustarme la película.

Both are standard. Pick the one that feels easier to read in the moment.

Conjugation of Verb Gustar in Spanish for real conversations

Most “likes” only need a handful of gustar forms. The subject drives singular vs plural, and the tense drives the verb shape. The table below collects the forms you’ll reach for most, plus a model sentence you can copy.

For the core meaning and other uses of gustar, the RAE dictionary entry for “gustar” is a solid reference point.

Tense	Form of gustar	Model sentence
Present	gusta / gustan	Me gusta esta canción.
Preterite	gustó / gustaron	Nos gustó el concierto.
Imperfect	gustaba / gustaban	Te gustaban los animales.
Conditional	gustaría / gustarían	Le gustaría vivir aquí.
Present perfect	ha gustado / han gustado	Me han gustado tus ideas.
Past perfect	había gustado / habían gustado	Nos había gustado el plan.
Present subjunctive	guste / gusten	Espero que te guste la cena.
Imperfect subjunctive	gustara / gustaran	Quería que nos gustara la clase.

Picking the right past tense in plain terms

Two past forms show up a lot: gustó and gustaba. Use gustó when you mean the like happened as a completed event. Use gustaba when you mean an ongoing preference in the past or a repeated liking.

• Me gustó la película. You saw it, you liked it, that’s the whole event.
• Me gustaba el jazz. Jazz was a regular preference back then.

If you’re telling a story, the imperfect often sets the background, and the preterite marks what happened once. With gustar, that turns into “I used to like X” vs “I liked X (that time).”

Talking about what you expect to like

Spanish has a single-word tense that expresses “will like,” but you can speak naturally with ir a + infinitive, which is common in daily speech:

• Me va a gustar este libro.
• Nos van a gustar esas fotos.

Use this when you want to predict a reaction without sounding stiff.

Using gustar with nouns, infinitives, and full ideas

With a noun

This is the classic build. Pick gusta for singular nouns and gustan for plural nouns.

• Me gusta el chocolate.
• Me gustan los deportes.

With an infinitive

An action in the infinitive acts like a singular subject. That means you’ll use gusta, even if the action feels plural in English.

• Nos gusta cocinar.
• Te gusta estudiar por la noche.

With a clause

You can like a full idea. Spanish often uses que to introduce it. The verb form depends on what comes after que.

• Me gusta que seas sincero.
• No me gusta que lleguen tarde.

That’s a common place to meet the subjunctive. If you want a deeper academic explanation of this teaching point in classroom Spanish, the Instituto Cervantes resource “Una explicación del verbo gustar mediante imágen” is worth a look: Instituto Cervantes PDF on teaching gustar with visuals.

Clarifying who likes it: a + person

With le and les, Spanish often adds the person’s name to avoid confusion. That’s also handy when you want contrast.

• A mí me gusta el té, pero a él le gusta el café.
• A Laura le gustan las playas, y a mí me gustan las montañas.

Two things to watch:

• The a + person phrase does not replace the pronoun. You keep both.
• The verb still agrees with the liked thing, not with the person.

Common patterns that sound natural

Once you have the structure, you can vary it without stress. Here are patterns that show up all the time in speech and writing.

Negatives and softeners

• No me gusta…
• No me gustan…
• No me gustó…

If you want to sound gentle, add a short softener, then say the like. Keep the sentence clean.

• La verdad, no me gusta esa idea.
• Hoy no me apetecen dulces. (Using a different verb to avoid repeating gustar.)

Questions and short answers

• ¿Te gusta esta canción? — Sí, me gusta.
• ¿Les gustan los museos? — Sí, les gustan.

Short answers often keep the verb and pronoun and drop the subject because it’s obvious from the question.

When you like “it”

Spanish often uses eso or eso de to point to a whole situation.

• Me gusta eso.
• No me gusta eso de llegar tarde.

Mistakes learners make and how to fix them

If you feel stuck, it usually comes down to one of these checks. Use the table as a fast diagnostic, then rewrite the sentence.

What goes wrong	What to check	Fix
Using yo gusto for “I like”	Is the subject “I”?	Use an indirect pronoun: Me gusta…
Mixing up gusta vs gustan	Is the liked thing singular or plural?	Match the subject: gusta (sing.), gustan (pl.).
Dropping the pronoun	Who feels the like?	Keep the pronoun: Le gusta…, not just Gusta…
Using le with no clarity	Could it mean him, her, or you (formal)?	Add a + name: A Ana le gusta…
Placing the pronoun in a clunky spot	Is there a verb chain?	Move it: Me va a gustar / Va a gustarme.
Forgetting the subjunctive after que	Is it a reaction to someone’s action?	Me gusta que vengas, not Me gusta que vienes.
Overusing gustar in a paragraph	Are you repeating the same line?	Swap in encantar, interesar, apetecer when it fits.

Expanding past gusta and gustan

Once gustar feels normal, you can use the same structure with a small set of verbs that behave in a similar way. The pronouns stay the same, and the verb agrees with the subject.

• Me encanta / Me encantan (to love)
• Me interesa / Me interesan (to interest)
• Me molesta / Me molestan (to bother)
• Me queda / Me quedan (to fit, for clothes)

That means your work on gustar pays off across a whole group of daily verbs.

A short self-check you can do before speaking

Right before you say a gustar sentence, run this quick mental list:

1. Name the liked thing first in your head. That’s the subject.
2. Pick the pronoun for the person: me, te, le, nos, os, les.
3. Match gusta to a singular subject and gustan to a plural subject, or pick the tense you need.
4. If le or les could confuse the listener, add a + name.

Do that a few times, and the sentence stops feeling backwards. It starts feeling like Spanish.