Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Me gusta hacer ejercicio por la mañana.

You don’t say “yo gusto” to mean “I like.”
Yo gusto would literally mean “I am pleasing,” which is not how you express “I like” in Spanish.

Why is it “me gusta” and not “me gusto”?

Me gusta = “I like [something].”
Me gusto = “I like myself.” (literally “I am pleasing to myself”)

In me gusta hacer ejercicio, the thing that is “pleasing” is hacer ejercicio (“to exercise / exercising”), not me.

So we need:

Me gusta [hacer ejercicio]
“Exercising is pleasing to me” → “I like to exercise.”

Why is it “gusta” and not “gustan” here?

The verb gustar agrees with the thing that is liked, not with the person who likes it.

Me gusta el café. – I like coffee.
Me gustan los libros. – I like books.

In the sentence:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio.

The subject is hacer ejercicio (an infinitive phrase treated as singular).
Since that’s singular, we use gusta, not gustan.

Whenever what you like is an action (an infinitive verb or verb phrase like bailar, correr, hacer ejercicio), you always use gusta (singular).

Why is it “hacer ejercicio” and not just “ejercitar” or “ejercitarme”?

In everyday Spanish, the natural way to say “to exercise / to work out” is hacer ejercicio.

Hacer ejercicio = to exercise, to work out (general, very common)
Ejercitar / ejercitarse is used, but:
- more often in specific or technical contexts (ejercitar un derecho = exercise a right)
- or in some regions/styles of speech, but less common in casual talk for “work out.”

So:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio. ✅ Very natural, standard.
Me gusta ejercitarme. ✅ Grammatically correct, but sounds less common / more marked in many contexts.

Why is “ejercicio” singular here? Could I say “hacer ejercicios”?

Both forms exist, but they’re not always used in the same way:

Hacer ejercicio (singular, uncountable):
- Means “to exercise / to work out in general”.
- Focuses on the activity as a whole, like “I work out.”
Hacer ejercicios (plural, countable):
- Means “to do exercises” (individual, concrete exercises).
- Often used for sets/repetitions, stretches, physical therapy exercises, etc.

In the sentence:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio por la mañana.

The idea is “I like working out in the morning” (general), so singular ejercicio is the most natural choice.

What’s the difference between “me gusta hacer ejercicio” and “me gusta el ejercicio”?

Me gusta hacer ejercicio.
= I like to exercise / exercising (doing the activity).
Me gusta el ejercicio.
= I like exercise as a general concept, or possibly “PE class” / “exercise” in a more abstract sense.

In practice, if you mean “I enjoy working out,” me gusta hacer ejercicio is the clearest and most natural.

Why is it “por la mañana” and not “en la mañana” or “de la mañana”?

All three can appear in Spanish, but they don’t work the same:

Por la mañana
- Very common in all varieties of Spanish.
- Means “in the morning / during the morning (as a general time period)”.
- Often used for habits or usual times:
  - Me gusta hacer ejercicio por la mañana. – I like to exercise in the morning.
En la mañana
- Especially common in much of Latin America.
- Often interchangeable with por la mañana, also “in the morning.”
- In some areas it’s more common in spoken language.
De la mañana
- Used mostly when you’re specifying a clock time:
  - Las 7 de la mañana – 7 in the morning.
- You wouldn’t usually say
  “Me gusta hacer ejercicio de la mañana.” ❌

So here, por la mañana is the default, neutral way to say “in the morning (generally)” and sounds completely natural everywhere.

Why do we say “la mañana” with “la”? Can we omit the article?

In Spanish, parts of the day normally take the definite article when used in this general time expression:

por la mañana – in the morning
por la tarde – in the afternoon
por la noche – at night

Saying “por mañana” ❌ is not correct in this sense.

You generally cannot omit the article here; the natural fixed expression is with la.

Can I change the word order, like “Por la mañana me gusta hacer ejercicio”?

Yes. Spanish word order is flexible, and all of these are possible:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio por la mañana.
Por la mañana me gusta hacer ejercicio.

Both are correct and natural.
The second version, starting with por la mañana, just emphasizes the time more:

Por la mañana, me gusta hacer ejercicio.
(As for the morning / In the mornings, that’s when I like to exercise.)

Can I say “Me gusta hacer ejercicios por la mañana”? Does it sound wrong?

It’s not wrong, but it can sound a bit more specific or less general:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio por la mañana.
→ I like working out in the morning (general habit).
Me gusta hacer ejercicios por la mañana.
→ I like to do (specific) exercises in the morning (could suggest sets of exercises, routines, stretches, etc.).

In most cases, if you mean “I like working out,” the singular ejercicio is more idiomatic.

How would I say “We like to exercise in the morning” or “They like to exercise in the morning”?

You keep the structure with gustar, but change the indirect object pronoun:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio por la mañana.
I like to exercise in the morning.
Nos gusta hacer ejercicio por la mañana.
We like to exercise in the morning.
Les gusta hacer ejercicio por la mañana.
They like to exercise in the morning.
(Or “you all” in Latin America, for ustedes.)

Notice gusta stays the same, because the thing liked is still hacer ejercicio (singular). Only me / nos / les changes.