gustar

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin gustāre, possibly a semi-learned term or early borrowing; cf. gust.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ɡusˈta]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ɡusˈtaɾ]
• Rhymes: -a(ɾ)

Verb

gustar (first-person singular present gusto, first-person singular preterite gustí, past participle gustat)

1. to taste

   Synonym: tastar

Conjugation

    Conjugation of gustar (first conjugation)

infinitive			gustar
gerund			gustant
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		gustat		gustada
		plural		gustats		gustades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	gusto	gustes	gusta	gustem	gusteu	gusten
	imperfect	gustava	gustaves	gustava	gustàvem	gustàveu	gustaven
	future	gustaré	gustaràs	gustarà	gustarem	gustareu	gustaran
	preterite	gustí	gustares	gustà	gustàrem	gustàreu	gustaren
	conditional	gustaria	gustaries	gustaria	gustaríem	gustaríeu	gustarien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	gusti	gustis	gusti	gustem	gusteu	gustin
	imperfect	gustés	gustessis	gustés	gustéssim	gustéssiu	gustessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	gusta	gusti	gustem	gusteu	gustin
	negative (no)	—	no gustis	no gusti	no gustem	no gusteu	no gustin

Related terms

• gust

Galician

Alternative forms

• gostar

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese gostar (“to taste”) (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria). Probably borrowed from Latin gustō, gustāre. Compare Portuguese gostar.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ɡusˈtaɾ/ [ɡus̺ˈt̪aɾ]

• IPA^(key): (standard) /ɡusˈtaɾ/ [ɡus̺ˈt̪aɾ]
• IPA^(key): (gheada) /ħusˈtaɾ/ [ħus̺ˈt̪aɾ]

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Hyphenation: gus‧tar

Verb

gustar (first-person singular present gusto, first-person singular preterite gustei, past participle gustado)

1. to be pleased, enjoy

   O viño tinto gústame mellor que o branco ― I like red wine more than white

   • 1791, anonymous author, O faraute mandón:

     Rapeteiro Cumilon
     traja congros é sentolas
     ¿Picadiñas con sebolas,
     moyto lle gosta ó lambon.

     Ravening filcher
     he swallows congers and king crabs
     minced with onions,
     the glutton likes them so much.

2. (intransitive) to taste
3. (intransitive) to like, enjoy [with de]

   Eu gusto do pan quente ― I enjoy freshly baked bread

Conjugation

    Conjugation of gustar

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (ti)	Third-person (el / ela / Vde.)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / Vdes.)
Infinitive
Impersonal	gustar
Personal	gustar	gustares	gustar	gustarmos	gustardes	gustaren
Gerund
	gustando
Past participle
Masculine	gustado			gustados
Feminine	gustada			gustadas
Indicative
Present	gusto	gustas	gusta	gustamos	gustades	gustan
Imperfect	gustaba	gustabas	gustaba	gustabamos	gustabades	gustaban
Preterite	gustei	gustaches	gustou	gustamos	gustastes	gustaron
Pluperfect	gustara	gustaras	gustara	gustaramos	gustarades	gustaran
Future	gustarei	gustarás	gustará	gustaremos	gustaredes	gustarán
Conditional	gustaría	gustarías	gustaría	gustariamos	gustariades	gustarían
Subjunctive
Present	guste	gustes	guste	gustemos	gustedes	gusten
Imperfect	gustase	gustases	gustase	gustásemos	gustásedes	gustasen
Future	gustar	gustares	gustar	gustarmos	gustardes	gustaren
Imperative
Affirmative		gusta	guste	gustemos	gustade	gusten
Negative (non)		non gustes	non guste	non gustemos	non gustedes	non gusten

Related terms

• gusto

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “gostar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “gostar”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “gostar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “gustar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “gustar”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Ido

Verb

gustar (present tense gustas, past tense gustis, future tense gustos, imperative gustez, conditional gustus)

1. to taste

Conjugation

    Conjugation of gustar

		present		past		future
infinitive		gustar		gustir		gustor
tense		gustas		gustis		gustos
conditional		gustus
imperative		gustez
adjective active participle		gustanta		gustinta		gustonta
adverbial active participle		gustante		gustinte		gustonte
nominal active participle	singular	gustanto		gustinto		gustonto
	plural	gustanti		gustinti		gustonti
adjective passive participle		gustata		gustita		gustota
adverbial passive participle		gustate		gustite		gustote
nominal passive participle	singular	gustato		gustito		gustoto
	plural	gustati		gustiti		gustoti

Romanian

Alternative forms

• gust

Etymology

Either from gust +‎ -ar or from Latin augustālis, from augustus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡuˈstar/

Noun

gustar

1. (popular/folk usage) August (eighth month of the Gregorian calendar)

   Synonyms: (standard/most common) august; (popular/folk name, rare) agust; (popular/folk name) măsălar

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed in this form from Latin gustāre. Replaced the inherited Old Spanish form gostar. See gusto. The use of this verb to mean "like" is a uniquely Ibero-Romance development. Compare Portuguese gostar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡusˈtaɾ/ [ɡusˈt̪aɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: gus‧tar

Verb

gustar (first-person singular present gusto, first-person singular preterite gusté, past participle gustado)

1. (transitive) to taste, to try (determine the flavour of something by putting it in one's mouth)

   Synonyms: probar, catar, degustar, saborear

2. (transitive) to experiment, to try

   Synonyms: experimentar, probar

3. (intransitive) to please, to be liked by (takes an indirect object)

   Me gusta esta manzana. ― I like this apple. (literally, “This apple is pleasing to me.”)

4. (intransitive, uncommon or formal) to like, to enjoy [with de]

   Synonym: disfrutar

   Mi padre y yo gustábamos de hacer excursiones juntos. ― My father and I liked to go on walks together.

5. (transitive) to want, to please

   Synonyms: querer, desear

   Puedes venir cuando gustes. ― You can come whenever you please.

Usage notes

• The English verb to like is usually translated to and from Spanish as gustar. This causes confusion for some English speakers studying Spanish, since (in most common speech) the subject and object of gustar are seemingly reversed from those of to like. That is, the subject of gustar is the thing that "pleases", and the (indirect) object is the one who "likes" that thing. (This usage is in fact more akin to the archaic definition of to like: Su semblante no me gusta ― His countenance likes me not.)

A commonly used method is to think of gustar as literally meaning to be pleasing to:

No me gustaron las espinacas. ― I didn't like the spinach. (literally, “The spinach was not pleasing to me.”)

¿Te gusto? ― Do you like me? (literally, “Am I pleasing to you?”)

Le gustas a María ― María likes you. (literally, “You are pleasing to María.”)

A los pájaros les gusta cantar. ― Birds like to sing. (literally, “Singing is pleasing to birds.”)

A la chica le gustan las flores. ― The girl likes flowers. (literally, “Flowers are pleasing to the girl.”)

Note that the indirect object pronoun is usually compulsory before gustar, even if the object itself is also present in the sentence. The only exception is if the object is a universal pronoun such as todo or nadie, in which case the extra pronoun is often optional:

Yo creía que esta película no (le) gustaba a nadie, pero ahora sé que le gustó mucho a mi madre. ― I used to think that no one liked this film, but now I know that my mother liked it a lot.

Also, in its conditional form, gustar can be used to express wishes or polite requests, in the same way as would like in English:

Nos gustaría más dinero. ― We would like more money.

• However, the form gustar de does not "reverse" the subject and object, and functions similarly to its English counterpart. Hence, (A mí) me gusta Madrid and (Yo) gusto de Madrid are both acceptable translations of I like Madrid. The latter form, however, is considered somewhat formal, and is much less common in all dialects of Spanish, especially in speech.
• When used to mean to taste or to want, it functions like a typical transitive verb (i.e., the subject and object are not "reversed" and the preposition de is not used):

¿Gustas la cerveza? ― Do you taste the beer? / Do you want the beer?

(Contrast with ¿Te gusta la cerveza? and ¿Gustas de la cerveza?, both of which mean "Do you like beer?".)

For the meaning to want, gustar is rarely used except in courtesy expressions (elsewhere, verbs such as querer are used more commonly).

Conjugation

    Conjugation of gustar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			gustar
gerund			gustando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		gustado		gustada
		plural		gustados		gustadas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	gusto	gustastú gustásvos	gusta	gustamos	gustáis	gustan
	imperfect	gustaba	gustabas	gustaba	gustábamos	gustabais	gustaban
	preterite	gusté	gustaste	gustó	gustamos	gustasteis	gustaron
	future	gustaré	gustarás	gustará	gustaremos	gustaréis	gustarán
	conditional	gustaría	gustarías	gustaría	gustaríamos	gustaríais	gustarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	guste	gustestú gustésvos2	guste	gustemos	gustéis	gusten
	imperfect (ra)	gustara	gustaras	gustara	gustáramos	gustarais	gustaran
	imperfect (se)	gustase	gustases	gustase	gustásemos	gustaseis	gustasen
	future1	gustare	gustares	gustare	gustáremos	gustareis	gustaren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		gustatú gustávos	guste	gustemos	gustad	gusten
	negative		no gustes	no guste	no gustemos	no gustéis	no gusten

¹Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of gustar

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive gustar
	dative	gustarme	gustarte	gustarle, gustarse	gustarnos	gustaros	gustarles, gustarse
	accusative	gustarme	gustarte	gustarlo, gustarla, gustarse	gustarnos	gustaros	gustarlos, gustarlas, gustarse
with gerund gustando
	dative	gustándome	gustándote	gustándole, gustándose	gustándonos	gustándoos	gustándoles, gustándose
	accusative	gustándome	gustándote	gustándolo, gustándola, gustándose	gustándonos	gustándoos	gustándolos, gustándolas, gustándose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative gusta
	dative	gústame	gústate	gústale	gústanos	not used	gústales
	accusative	gústame	gústate	gústalo, gústala	gústanos	not used	gústalos, gústalas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative gustá
	dative	gustame	gustate	gustale	gustanos	not used	gustales
	accusative	gustame	gustate	gustalo, gustala	gustanos	not used	gustalos, gustalas
with formal second-person singular imperative guste
	dative	gústeme	not used	gústele, gústese	gústenos	not used	gústeles
	accusative	gústeme	not used	gústelo, gústela, gústese	gústenos	not used	gústelos, gústelas
with first-person plural imperative gustemos
	dative	not used	gustémoste	gustémosle	gustémonos	gustémoos	gustémosles
	accusative	not used	gustémoste	gustémoslo, gustémosla	gustémonos	gustémoos	gustémoslos, gustémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative gustad
	dative	gustadme	not used	gustadle	gustadnos	gustaos	gustadles
	accusative	gustadme	not used	gustadlo, gustadla	gustadnos	gustaos	gustadlos, gustadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative gusten
	dative	gústenme	not used	gústenle	gústennos	not used	gústenles, gústense
	accusative	gústenme	not used	gústenlo, gústenla	gústennos	not used	gústenlos, gústenlas, gústense

Synonyms

• (to like something): antojar, apetecer, encantar, molar (colloquial, Spain)
• (to like somebody, not romantically): agradar, parecer bien, caer bien (colloquial)
• (to like somebody romantically): estar enamorado de, encularse de (vulgar, El Salvador)
• (to like doing something): adorar, encantar, fascinar

Derived terms

• como guste
• disgustar
• gustosamente
• gustoso

 

Related terms

• degustar
• gusto
• pregustar

 

Descendants

• → Mecayapan Nahuatl: quigustarohua

See also

• agradar
• deleitar
• detestar (“to detest”)
• encantar
• odiar (“to hate”)

Further reading

• “gustar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28