Eu gosto do bolo de chocolate.

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Breakdown of Eu gosto do bolo de chocolate.

• gostar de: to like
• de: of
• o bolo: the cake

Questions & Answers about Eu gosto do bolo de chocolate.

What does gosto mean here, and why isn’t it gosta?

Gosto is the first‑person singular (I) form of the verb gostar in the present tense.

• Eu gosto = I like
• Você/Ele/Ela gosta = You/He/She likes
• Nós gostamos = We like
• Eles/Elas gostam = They like

So in Eu gosto do bolo de chocolate, gosto matches the subject Eu (I).

Why is it gosto do bolo and not just gosto bolo or gosto o bolo?

In Portuguese, gostar almost always needs the preposition de after it.

• Pattern: gostar de + thing/person

You cannot say gostar algo or gostar o bolo.
You must say gostar de algo:

• Eu gosto de chocolate. = I like chocolate.
• Eu gosto do bolo. = I like the cake.

So gosto do bolo is really gosto de + o bolo, contracted to do bolo.

What exactly does do mean in do bolo de chocolate?