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gustar

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Catalan

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Verb

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

  1. to taste
    Synonym: tastar

Conjugation

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Galician

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

  • Rhymes: -aɾ
  • Hyphenation: gus‧tar

Verb

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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 brancoI 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 quenteI enjoy freshly baked bread

Conjugation

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References

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Ido

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Verb

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

  1. to taste

Conjugation

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Romanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Etymology

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Borrowed in this form from Latin gustāre. Replaced the inherited Old Spanish form gostar.[1] See gusto. The use of this verb to mean "like" is a uniquely Ibero-Romance development. Compare Portuguese gostar.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɡusˈtaɾ/ [ɡusˈt̪aɾ]
  • Audio (Colombia):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɾ
  • Syllabification: gus‧tar

Verb

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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

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  • 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 gustaHis 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 MaríaMaría 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

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Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Mecayapan Nahuatl: quigustarohua

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “gustar”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

Further reading

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