December 09, 2006

Lesson 08
Notes
In this edition:
talking about
your likes and
dislikes.

Me gusta la música.
Lesson 08
Programme Notes

Welcome to Coffee Break Spanish, the podcast Although this is how you say “I like” in Spanish,
aimed at independent learners of Spanish. In if does not literally mean “I like”, with me
Coffee Break Spanish we’ll be guiding you meaning “I” and gusta meaning “like”. In fact the
through the basics of the Spanish language and phrase me gusta literally means “to me pleases...”,
helping you to learn to communicate in Spain and the phrase me gusta mi trabajo means “my job
and Spanish-speaking countries. pleases me”. You don’t need to worry too much
about this, but it will help you understand things
In the last lesson you learned to say whether or when we come to learn about other aspects of
not you liked your job. In lesson 08 you’ll be this construction.
developing these phrases further to talk in
general about your likes and dislikes. We should also remember the phrase for “do you
like...”:
I like... ¿te gusta tu trabajo?
To begin with, let’s recap on the phrase for “I do you like your job? (inf)
like...”. We’ve already learned to say “I like my This is the informal form of the question. You
job: should also be familiar with the formal form:

me gusta mi trabajo ¿le gusta su trabajo?

I like my job do you like your job? (for)
The phrase for “I like” is: Just as me gusta... means “(something) pleases
me”, te gusta... and le gusta... means “does
me gusta (something) please you?”
I like
You’ll now learn to say that you like certain
things. Look carefully at these phrases:

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 me gusta la música Taking it further
I like music
To extend your range of vocabulary you could
say:
me gusta la literatura
I like literature me gusta mucho (la música)
I really like (music) or
I like (music) lots
me gusta la fotografía If you don’t really like something you could say:
I like photography
no me gusta mucho (el chocolate)
In all of the example above, the phrase me gusta is
I don’t really like (chocolate)
followed by a noun: la música (music), la literatura
(literature), fotografía (photography). Note that this means “I don’t really like it”, as
opposed to “I really don’t like it”, ie. you’re not
Here are some further examples: particularly keen on chocolate, but you don’t
hate it!
me gusta el chocolate
I like chocolate You can also say that you love something:

me encanta (la literatura)

me gusta el cine I love (literature)
I like cinema / films This phrase works in exactly the same way as me
gusta: the example above literally means
“literature enchants me”.
me gusta el deporte
I like sport
I like to sing
Pronunciation tip: the word cine is pronounced
So far we’ve looked at examples involving nouns,
differently depending on which part of the
eg. me gusta la música, me gusta el chocolate, etc. It’s
Spanish-speaking world you’re familiar with. In equally important to be able to say that you like
Spain the ci- sound is pronounced “thee...” as in doing something.
the English word “theory”. In Latin American
Spanish the ci- sound is pronouced “see” as in In Spanish, the phrase me gusta can also be
“see-saw”. followed by a verb:

me gusta cantar
I like to sing
Definite articles
You’ll have noticed in all of the above phrases me gusta bailar
that the word for “music”, “sport”, etc. are
I like to dance
preceded by one word, either la or el.

We’ve already learned that all nouns in Spanish

are either masculine or feminine. When we me gusta comer
covered family members we learned that “a
brother” is un hermano and “a sister” is una I like to eat
hermana. The words un and una are both
described as “indefinite articles”: they translate
the word for “a”. The definite article (the word me gusta salir
for “the”) in Spanish is el for masculine singular I like to go out
words and la for feminine singular words.

You should also note that although we say “I like

music”, you must say “I like THE music” in me gusta leer
Spanish: me gusta LA múscia. There’s no real I like to read
reason for this - it’s just one of those peculiarities
of language that you have to accept!

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 me gusta aprender español Kara: En este momento, no. No trabajo.
I like to learn Spanish Soy estudiante. Soy estudiante de
español.
Mark: Muy bien.
Note that in all the above examples we’ve Kara: ¿Te gusta tu trabajo, Mark?
translated them as “I like to (do something)”. We
translated me gusta bailar as “I like to dance”, but Mark: Sí, me gusta mucho. ¿Te gusta
it also can be translated as “I like dancing”. aprender español, Kara?
Kara: Sí, me encanta.
All the verbs given are in the infinitive form,
which literally translates as “to ...”, eg. cantar, “to Mark: ¿Qué te gusta hacer en tu tiempo
sing”; bailar, “to dance”, etc. In Spanish, libre?
infinitives end in -ar, -er and -ir. We’ll be talking Kara: Me gusta bailar, me gusta comer y
more about infinitives and verbs in general in me gusta mucho leer. Me encanta
future lessons. la literatura. ¿Y tú?
When you look up a verb in an English-Spanish Mark: Me gusta mucho la música: me
dictionary you’ll be given the infinitive form. For gusta cantar y tocar piano.
example, if you look up “chat” then you’ll find
something which looks like this:

chat [ˈtʃæt] 1 n charla f, plática f (LAm) Below is a translation of the above dialogue to
help you.
2 vi charlar, platicar (LAm) (to, with con)
You need to find the verbal form. In the case of Mark: Hi, Kara. How are you?
“to chat”, the second meaning listed is the verb Kara: Hi, Mark. I’m very well. What about
(preceded by vi, standing for “intransitive verb”) you? How are you?
and the verb is listed in the infinitive form, Mark: Fine, thanks.
ending in -ar. This is a good example because we
can see from this verb that “to chat” is translated Kara: Tell me, Mark. What do you work
differently in Spain and in Latin American as?
countries: in Spain you would say: Mark: I’m a Spanish teacher. What about
you, Kara? Do you work?
me gusta charlar
Kara: At the moment, no. I don’t work.
I like to chat / I like chatting
I’m a student. I’m a student of
Whereas in Latin America you’re more likely to Spanish.
say:
Mark: Very good.
me gusta platicar Kara: Do you like your job, Mark?
I like to chat / I like chatting Mark: Yes, I like it a lot. Do you like
You should try to come up with some examples learning Spanish, Kara?
of what you like doing by using a dictionary to Kara: Yes, I love it.
find verbs. Mark: What do you like to do in your free
time?
Sample conversation Kara: I like dancing, I like eating and I
really like reading. I love literature.
This week’s conversation brings together the new What about you?
language covered in this week’s lesson and some
of the phrases we’ve covered in previous lessons. Mark: I really like music: I like singing and
playing the piano.

Mark: Hola, Kara. ¿Qué tal?

Kara: Hola, Mark. Muy bien. Y tú, ¿qué Vocabulary lists
tal?
Mark: Bien, gracias. Listed below are all the words and phrases
contained in this lesson. New words and phrases
Kara: Dime, Mark, ¿en qué trabajas?
included in the conversation are given in the
Mark: Soy profesor de español. Y tú, Bonus Vocabulary section below.
Kara, ¿trabajas?

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 CoffeeBreakSpanish: Lesson 08 - Key Vocabulary
me gusta... I like... (literally “... pleases me”)
la música music
la literatura literature
la fotografía photography
el chocolate chocolate
el cine cinema
el deporte sport
me gusta mucho... I really like...
no me gusta mucho... I don’t really like...
me encanta... I love... (literally “... enchants me”)
cantar to sing

bailar to dance
comer to eat
salir to go out
leer to read
aprender español to learn spanish

CoffeeBreakSpanish: Lesson 08 - Bonus Vocabulary

en este momento at the moment, at this time
¿qué te gusta hacer...? what do you like to do?
hacer to do
en tu tiempo libre in your free time
el tiempo time
libre free
viajar to travel
cocinar to cook
jugar al golf to play golf
jugar al fútbol to play football (soccer)
jugar al tenis to play tennis
tocar el piano to play the piano
tocar la batería to play the drums
tocar la guitarra to play the guitar
ir al cine to go to the cinema

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escuchar música to listen to music
ver la televisión to watch tv
estar con mi familia to be with my family
me gusta la comida... I like ... food
...española Spanish (food)
...mejicana / mexicana* Mexican (food)
...italiana Italian (food)
...china Chinese (food)

*In Mexico, the word “Mexican” is translated as mexicano/a, whereas outside of Mexico, it is translated
as mejicano/a.

This collection of words and phrases is intended to provide a basic list of vocabulary. If you’d like some
help talking about what you like, visit the Forum at http://www.coffeebreakspanish.com and post a
question. We’ll answer your question there and the other users of CBS will benefit from the answer too!

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