Welcome to our lesson about Spanish verbs like “Gustar”.
The verb “Gustar” , which means “to be pleasing”, produces a particular sentence structure. We explained it in detail in our lesson about “gustar”. (REVIEW OUR LESSON ABOUT “GUSTAR” TO REALLY UNDERSTAND THIS TOPIC).
But there are other verbs in Spanish which produce that same sentence structure.
In this lesson, we will learn to identify verbs that work like “Gustar”, providing example sentences. There is also a Quiz at the end.
Contents
1. Identifying Verbs that work like “Gustar”
First of all, it is important to repeat that “Gustar” doesn’t actually mean “to like”, but “to be pleasing”.
Example:
A mí me gusta el zumo de naranja.
Orange juice is pleasing to me.
“Gustar” expresses a certain effect that something has on someone (“it is pleasing”).
Of course, there are many other verbs which express other effects that things have on people. For example, the following English sentences express exactly that:
- Something worries me.
- Something scares me.
- Something bothers me.
- Something makes me happy.
In Spanish, all those verbs produce the same sentences structure as “gustar”.
For the rest of this lesson, we will review some of these verbs, with example sentences.
2. Some verbs like “Gustar”
Fascinar (to fascinate someone)
A mí me fascina su personalidad.
His personality fascinates me.
As always with verbs like “Gustar”, the sentence has basically the same meaning if we use only Block 2:
Me fascina su personalidad.
Or we can also change the order:
Su personalidad me fascina.
Preocupar (to worry)
A mí me preocupa esta situación.
This situation worries me.
Interesar (to be interesting to someone)
A mi padre le interesa la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
World War II is interesting to my father.
Dar miedo (to scare, to frighten someone)
A ella le dan miedo las arañas.
Spiders scare her.
Aburrir (to bore)
A nosotros nos aburren las películas.
Movies bore us.
3. Even more verbs like “Gustar”
- Importar = to be important (to someone)
- Dar asco = to be repulsive
- Molestar = to bother
- Disgustar = to disgust, to be disgusting
- Parecer = to seem
- Doler = to hurt, to be painful
- Picar = to itch
- Encantar = to be very pleasing
- Alegrar = to make (someone) happy
- Poner nervioso = to make (someone) nervous
4. Practice: a Quiz
Take this short Quiz to test your knowledge: