Common Mistakes: Gustar and Similar Verbs | Spanish (Latin America) Grammar

Gustar is the verb that makes every English speaker feel like they're learning Spanish backwards. In English, "I like coffee" puts the person first and the thing second. In Spanish, me gusta el café puts the thing first—literally "coffee is pleasing to me." The confusion spreads to a whole family of verbs that work the same inverted way: encantar, doler, faltar, importar, interesar, molestar, parecer, quedar, sobrar. This page catalogs the mistakes English speakers make and shows exactly how to fix each one.

Why gustar works "backwards"

The English sentence I like coffee has:

Subject: I
Verb: like
Object: coffee

The Spanish equivalent flips the roles:

Subject: el café (the coffee)
Verb: gusta (is pleasing)
Indirect object: me (to me)

So the verb gustar agrees with el café, not with yo. Once you internalize this, everything else falls into place.

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Translate gustar mentally as "is pleasing to", not as "to like". Me gusta el café = "coffee is pleasing to me." The awkwardness is temporary—it pays off forever.

Mistake 1: Conjugating gustar like "to like"

The most common error is treating gustar as if it were a regular verb and saying yo gusto, tú gustas, nosotros gustamos. These forms exist but they mean I am pleasing, you are pleasing, we are pleasing—usually not what you want.

❌ Yo gusto el café.

Wrong: This means 'I am pleasing the coffee.'

✅ Me gusta el café.

Correct: I like coffee.

❌ Nosotros gustamos la música.

Wrong: This means 'we are pleasing the music.'

✅ Nos gusta la música.

Correct: We like music.

Mistake 2: Forgetting to match the verb to the thing liked

The verb agrees with the thing that is liked, not with the person doing the liking. If the thing is plural, the verb is plural: me gustan las flores. If the thing is singular, the verb is singular: me gusta la flor.

❌ Ella gusta las flores.

Wrong: two problems — wrong verb person and no indirect object pronoun.

✅ Le gustan las flores.

Correct: She likes flowers. (gustan is plural to match las flores)

❌ Me gusta las pizzas.

Wrong: las pizzas is plural, so the verb must be too.

✅ Me gustan las pizzas.

Correct: I like pizzas.

✅ Me gusta la pizza.

Correct: I like pizza. (singular subject, singular verb)

Mistake 3: Confusing "me gustas tú" with "I like you"

When you want to say I like you, remember that you is the thing being liked, so the verb agrees with tú: me gustas tú. English speakers often try to reverse the pronouns.

❌ Yo gusto tú.

Wrong: This is ungrammatical and would mean something like 'I please you' if parsed generously.

✅ Me gustas.

Correct: I like you.

✅ Me gustas tú.

Correct: I like you. (emphatic — as in the song)

✅ ¿Te gusto?

Correct: Do you like me?

Mistake 4: Dropping the indirect object pronoun

The me, te, le, nos, les pronoun is not optional. Even if you add a mí, a ti, a ella, a nosotros for emphasis, the short pronoun still has to be there.

❌ A María gusta el chocolate.

Wrong: Missing the indirect object pronoun le.

✅ A María le gusta el chocolate.

Correct: María likes chocolate.

❌ A nosotros gusta viajar.

Wrong: Missing nos.

✅ A nosotros nos gusta viajar.

Correct: We like to travel.

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Rule of thumb: every gustar sentence has a pronoun (me/te/le/nos/les). The a + person phrase is optional and emphatic; the pronoun is required.

See emphatic a mí for when to use the extra phrase.

Mistake 5: Ambiguous le without "a + person"

Because le can mean to him, to her, or to you (formal), a sentence like le gusta el café is genuinely ambiguous out of context. When it matters, add a él, a ella, a usted, or the person's name.

⚠️ Le gusta María.

Ambiguous: Could mean 'he likes María' or 'María likes him.' And it doesn't tell you whose 'le'.

✅ A él le gusta María.

Correct: He likes María. (unambiguous)

✅ A María le gusta él.

Correct: María likes him.

Mistake 6: Encantar doesn't take muy, mucho, or más

Encantar already means to love or to be delighted by. You don't intensify it with mucho, muy, or más—the verb itself is already strong. To intensify, you can use de verdad, muchísimo, or just leave it alone.

❌ Me encanta mucho el chocolate.

Wrong: Encantar already means 'love,' so mucho is redundant.

✅ Me encanta el chocolate.

Correct: I love chocolate.

✅ Me gusta mucho el chocolate.

Correct: I like chocolate a lot. (gustar can take mucho)

Mistake 7: Doler needs the article, not a possessive

In English, body parts use possessives (my foot hurts). In Spanish, body parts use the definite article and the indirect object pronoun tells you whose it is.

❌ Mi pie duele.

Wrong: Spanish doesn't use possessive + body part + hurt like this.

✅ Me duele el pie.

Correct: My foot hurts. (Literally: the foot hurts to me)

❌ Mis pies duelen.

Wrong: same problem.

✅ Me duelen los pies.

Correct: My feet hurt.

✅ A mi hijo le duele la cabeza.

Correct: My son has a headache.

See articles with body parts for more.

Mistake 8: Faltar, quedar, and sobrar work the same way

These three verbs follow exactly the same pattern as gustar. Learners who memorize gustar as a one-off often don't realize how much mileage they can get from the structure.

❌ Yo falto dos dólares.

Wrong: This sounds like 'I am missing as a person.'

✅ Me faltan dos dólares.

Correct: I'm short two dollars. (Literally: two dollars are lacking to me)

✅ ¿Cuánto tiempo te queda?

Correct: How much time do you have left?

✅ Nos sobra comida para mañana.

Correct: We have food left over for tomorrow.

Mistake 9: Importar and interesar

Does it matter to you? is ¿Te importa?, not ¿Tú importas?. That interests me is Me interesa, not Yo intereso.

❌ Yo no importo lo que piensen.

Wrong: This means 'I am not important about what they think.'

✅ No me importa lo que piensen.

Correct: I don't care what they think.

✅ A mis padres les interesa la política.

Correct: My parents are interested in politics.

Mistake 10: Parecer has two meanings

Parecer means to seem when used on its own, and to seem to someone (a matter of opinion) when used like gustar. English speakers sometimes forget the pronoun in the opinion sense.

❌ Yo parezco que es una buena idea.

Wrong: This means 'I seem that it is a good idea.'

✅ Me parece que es una buena idea.

Correct: I think it's a good idea. (Literally: it seems to me)

✅ ¿Qué te parece la película?

Correct: What do you think of the movie?

Quick summary table

Structure	Wrong	Right	English
Basic	Yo gusto el café.	Me gusta el café.	I like coffee.
Plural subject	Me gusta las pizzas.	Me gustan las pizzas.	I like pizzas.
Third person	Ella gusta las flores.	Le gustan las flores.	She likes flowers.
Body parts	Mi pie duele.	Me duele el pie.	My foot hurts.
Named person	María gusta el chocolate.	A María le gusta el chocolate.	María likes chocolate.
Opinion	Yo parezco que sí.	Me parece que sí.	I think so.
Missing	Yo falto dinero.	Me falta dinero.	I'm short on money.
Loving	Me encanta mucho.	Me encanta.	I love it.

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Whenever you want to say "[person] [verbs] [thing]" and the verb is about feelings, opinions, pain, or availability, try the gustar structure: [a person] + [pronoun] + [verb agreeing with thing] + [thing].

For a complete list of verbs in this family and the full conjugation picture, see Gustar-type verbs and the page on indirect objects.