1

In

Nos gusta ir al cine.

nos is plural, why the verb gustar should take the

"3rd-person singular present indicative conjugation"

gusta? Shouldn't it be

"1st-person plural present (?) nominative (?) conjugation"

gustamos?

1
  • Go look up the verb gustar in Spanish. It is structured like this: Apples are pleasing to me. Me gustan las manzanas.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jan 27 at 0:19

1 Answer 1

3

The subject in:

  • Nos gusta ir al cine

is the infinitival "ir al cine", which is third person singular. For you to understand it better, we can rephrase the sentence following the less natural order below:

  • Ir al cine nos gusta (Going to the cinema appeals to us).

While "like" in English takes as a subject the person who likes, "gustar" in Spanish takes as a subject the thing or person that arouses somebody's sense of liking.

4
  • Is there an online tool that can do sentence analysis to segment different functional parts of the sentence and for each explain some basic properties, much similar to your answer?
    – qazwsx
    Commented Jan 26 at 3:48
  • So, the the original sentence's structure is <object> + <verb: gustar> + <subject>?
    – qazwsx
    Commented Jan 26 at 3:58
  • 1
    Exactly. This is a very usual order with the verb "gustar". A possible reason for this might be that the subject tends to be longer than the predicate, and thus calls for its posposition. For example: Me gusta ir al cine con mis amigos, is much more balanced and natural than: Ir al cine con mis amigos me gusta.
    – Gustavson
    Commented Jan 26 at 18:16
  • It happens anywhere with the like verb, that the subject is exchanged in English vs. Spanish, being the first example "I like you" is "(Tú) me gustas". To retain the English subject you may say "(Yo) gusto de ti", but it is not near natural language.
    – jachguate
    Commented May 18 at 5:42

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.