SAYING YOU
LIKE SOMETHING
the
verb “gostar”
Languages like Spanish and Italian have a special way
to say someone likes something. They use the object pronoun + verb + liked
thing structure: “Me gusta la música.” (Spanish), “Mi piace la musica” (Italian),
“I like music” or “Music pleases me”
Portuguese doesn’t use
a similar structure in this case. In fact, it’s way of saying “like” is closer
to English than to Spanish or Italian. Portuguese translation for Spanish verb
“gustar” is “gostar”, but it’s not used in the same way. “Gostar” means
“to like”, and has to be followed by the preposition “de”.
Let’s see the examples below:
Eu gosto de
música. I like music.
Not “me gosta
música”
Ela gosta de
você. She likes you.
Not “lhe
gosta você”
Você gosta de
estudar? Do you like to study?
Not “lhe
gosta estudar?”
Nós gostamos de
jogos. We like games.
Not “nos
gostam jogos”
Here it is the verb “gostar” conjugated in the
“presente do indicativo” (“indicative present”, a tense that is equivalent to
the simple present).
Eu gosto
Tu gostas
Ele, elas, você gosta
Nós gostamos
Vós gostais
Eles, elas, vocês gostam
You may ask if Portuguese doesn’t have a construction similar to the Spanish one.
Yes, it has. It’s made with the verb “agradar”, and it sounds a bit formal.
It’s mostly used when you say your opinion about a situation. So, you
can say “Isto me agrada” (This pleases me).