Gostar (To Like) — Full Conjugation

Gostar is the ordinary Portuguese verb for to like, but it comes with the most important beginner rule in the language: it always takes the preposition de before its object. Not sometimes — always. You never say gosto café; you say gosto de café. This small preposition is the single most forgotten word in beginner Portuguese, and forgetting it is the dead giveaway that someone is a new learner. Build the reflex now and your Portuguese will sound natural from the start.

Mechanically, gostar is as simple as a verb gets: a fully regular first-conjugation (-ar) verb with no irregular forms, no spelling changes, and no surprises in any tense. The whole difficulty of the verb lives in the preposition, and in the idiomatic uses of gostava (imperfect) for soft, polite requests — a feature of European Portuguese that learners often miss.

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Why "de"? A short explanation

In Latin, the verb gustare meant "to taste." Over time it broadened to "take pleasure in, find agreeable." The thing you take pleasure in was expressed with the preposition de (literally "from, out of"). So when you say gosto de música, you are saying something close to "I take pleasure from music." English drops the "from" and uses "like" as a straightforward transitive verb. Portuguese keeps the preposition. Every time you say gostar de, you are preserving a piece of the verb's original grammar — this is not arbitrary, it is etymology.

Present indicative — presente do indicativo

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

The imperfect is where a major pragmatic use appears: gostava de is how native European Portuguese speakers make polite requests — the equivalent of English "I would like" in a restaurant or shop. Literally "I used to like," but idiomatically softer and more polite than the present.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Note: in European Portuguese, the nós preterite gostámos carries an acute accent on the á, distinguishing it from the present gostamos. Brazilian spelling drops the accent.

Pluperfect indicative, simple — pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples

Pluperfect indicative, compound — pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Describes an action that has been happening repeatedly or continuously up to now. Tenho gostado dos teus textos = I have been enjoying your writing (lately).

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional (futuro do pretérito)

The conditional form gostaria also functions as a polite request, slightly more formal than the imperfect gostava. In European Portuguese, gostava is more common in casual speech; gostaria appears more in writing, customer service, and formal interactions.

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

The imperative of gostar is rare in everyday speech — you cannot easily command someone to like something — but it exists in set expressions and in the negative.

Affirmative:

Negative (identical to the present subjunctive with não):

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

The gostar + de construction

Gostar de + noun

Note the contractions: de + o = do, de + a = da, de + os = dos, de + as = das. You will use these constantly with gostar.

Gostar de + infinitive

When the thing you like is an activity, the structure is gostar de + infinitive — never gostar de + gerund (a common mistake from English speakers thinking of "I like reading").

Gostar de + pronoun

When the object is a person ("I like him, I like her, I like you"), use a disjunctive pronoun after de: de ti, dele, dela, de nós, de vocês, deles, delas.

Be aware of register: gostar de + person often carries a romantic undertone in Portuguese. For strong liking in a platonic sense, speakers often say gosto muito de ti como amigo(a) to clarify.

Degrees of liking

Portuguese scales liking through adverbs added to gostar de:

• gostar pouco de — to not like much
• gostar de — to like
• gostar muito de — to really like
• gostar imenso de / gostar bastante de — to like a lot
• adorar — to love (non-romantic; for things, activities, food)
• amar — to love (romantic; for people)

Gostar mais de = to prefer

The pattern is gostar mais de X (do) que de Y. The second de is obligatory — it stays even though English drops it.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Gostar is a fully regular -ar verb. There is nothing irregular about its forms.
• Gostar de is a single chunk. Never use gostar without de before an object of liking (noun, infinitive, or pronoun).
• Gostava de (imperfect) and gostaria de (conditional) are the standard polite-request patterns. Gostava is more conversational in EP; gostaria is more formal.
• Remember the contractions: de + o/a/os/as = do/da/dos/das.
• After de, personal pronouns take their disjunctive form: de mim, de ti, dele, dela, de nós, deles, delas — not de eu, de tu.
• Scale of intensity: não gosto de < gosto pouco de < gosto de < gosto muito de / imenso / bastante de < adoro < amo (amo only for people, romantic).
• Gostar mais de X (do) que de Y = to prefer X to Y. Both des stay.