te gusta
/te ɡusta/from spelling rules
The phrase "you like her" in Spanish is translated as te gusta.
How does it change in a sentence?
If you are speaking to someone formally using usted, you must change te gusta to le gusta. If you are addressing a group of people using ustedes, you use les gusta instead of te gusta.
How do you pronounce it?
/te ɡusta/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly try to translate "you like her" directly as tú la gustas, but in Spanish, the person being liked is the subject and the person feeling the liking is the object.
Did you know?
- If you want to say 'you love her' with an intense passion, you would switch from te gusta to te encanta. The word encantar literally means 'to enchant'.
- The pronoun te comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *twé, which is the ancestor of the English word 'thee'.
- Using the formal le gusta to refer to a person you are acquainted with can sometimes be interpreted as a subtle way of being cold or intentionally impersonal during a conversation.
Examples in context
- Sabemos que te gusta.We know you like her.Tatoeba #11310097 by Bonaaq, translation #3912813 by CH
- Ella te gusta, ¿verdad?You like her, don't you?Tatoeba #1876487 by Shishir, translation #535849 by CK
- Yo supongo que te gusta.I suppose you like her.Tatoeba #1181072 by marcelostockle, translation #68996 by CK
- 3 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Javier is teasing Sofía about a girl she was talking to.
- JavierTe gusta, ¿verdad?You like her, right?
- SofíaNo es cierto, Javier.That is not true, Javier.
- JavierSe nota mucho que te gusta.It is very obvious that you like her.
- SofíaBueno, tal vez un poco.Well, maybe a little.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries te, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
