Breakdown of A mi suegra le gusta cuidar el huerto hasta que los tomates maduran.
mi
my
gustar
to like
a
to
le
to her
Questions & Answers about A mi suegra le gusta cuidar el huerto hasta que los tomates maduran.
Why does the sentence start with A mi suegra? What is that initial a for?
With gustar, the person who likes something is an indirect object, introduced by a. The pattern is: A + person + indirect object pronoun + gusta + thing liked. So A mi suegra le gusta… means “To my mother-in-law, it is pleasing…”. That initial a is not a personal-a for a direct object here; it marks the indirect object.
Why is it mi (no accent) in A mi suegra, not mí?
Mi (no accent) is the possessive adjective “my” in mi suegra (“my mother-in-law”). Mí (with accent) is the prepositional pronoun “me,” as in A mí me gusta. Here we want “my,” so no accent: mi.
Why is the pronoun le used (and not la) in le gusta?
Because gustar takes an indirect object for the experiencer: me, te, le, nos, les. Le = “to her/him/you (usted).” La is a direct-object pronoun and doesn’t work with gustar. So: A mi suegra le gusta… is correct.
Do I need both A mi suegra and le? Isn’t that redundant?