le gustas
/le ɡustas/from spelling rules
In Spanish, "he likes you" is expressed as le gustas.
The phrase le gustas is used to express that a man has a romantic interest in someone. While the verb gustar can be used for inanimate objects or hobbies, when used with people in this specific way, it almost always implies romantic attraction.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally translates to "you are pleasing to him". The word le is an indirect object pronoun meaning "to him", and gustas is the second-person singular conjugation of the verb gustar to match the subject "you".
How do you pronounce it?
/le ɡustas/
What mistakes should you avoid?
Avoid saying él te gusta. English speakers often make this mistake by following English word order, but in Spanish, the person being liked is the subject and must be conjugated to match that person.
Did you know?
- To avoid the romantic implication of le gustas, a speaker can add the word mucho or como amigo to clarify the nature of the attraction. Conversely, saying me caes bien instead of me gustas expresses a platonic liking for someone's personality.
- If you want to say someone is 'totally' into you, you might use le encantas, which literally means 'you enchant him'. This is the common way to escalate the intensity of le gustas beyond a simple crush.
- The pronoun le is derived from the Latin 'illī', which was the dative form of 'ille', the word for 'that one'.
Examples in context
- Creo que le gustas.I think he likes you.This sentence is useful for expressing the thought "I think he likes you.".Tatoeba #3697435 by marcelostockle, translation #2214391 by Hybrid
- Le gustas.He likes you.This sentence is useful for stating "He likes you.".Tatoeba #6681521 by arh, translation #8476335 by CH
- ¡Le gustas!He likes you!This sentence is useful for adding emphasis to the statement "He likes you!"Tatoeba #4482190 by cueyayotl, translation #2439748 by Hybrid
- A él le gusta usted, le he visto sonreír cuando usted está cerca.He likes you, I've seen him smile when you're around.
Example conversation
Mateo and María are talking about a friend of Mateo's.
- MateoMaría, lo sé, le gustas.María, I know it, he likes you.
- María¿De verdad? No lo sabía.Really? I didn't know.
- MateoÉl siempre te mira mucho.He is always looking at you a lot.
- MaríaQué vergüenza, Mateo.How embarrassing, Mateo.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries le, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
