Me gusta descansar en el sofá después de la escuela.

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Breakdown of Me gusta descansar en el sofá después de la escuela.

• gustar: to like
• la escuela: the school
• después de: after
• descansar: to rest
• en: on
• el sofá: the sofa

Questions & Answers about Me gusta descansar en el sofá después de la escuela.

Why is it Me gusta instead of Yo gusto when saying “I like”?

In Spanish, the verb gustar literally means “to be pleasing,” so you construct the sentence as “(something) pleases me.” This is why you say Me gusta (“It pleases me”) rather than Yo gusto (“I please”). The pronoun me indicates who is pleased, and gusta matches the thing that does the pleasing (in this case, the activity of resting).

Why is descansar used in its infinitive form?

After Me gusta, you usually use an infinitive when talking about an activity you like to do. So if you want to say “I like to rest,” you say Me gusta descansar—the infinitive descansar refers to the general act of resting, and it stays in that form.

Why do we say en el sofá instead of en la sofá?

The word sofá is masculine in Spanish, so it must be accompanied by the masculine article el. While many nouns ending in -a are feminine, sofá is an exception because it’s borrowed from other languages and retained its masculine gender. Therefore, it’s correct to say el sofá, not la sofá.

What’s the difference between después de la escuela and después del colegio?

Both expressions mean “after school,” but in Spain colegio often refers to primary/elementary school, whereas escuela can be more general. You might hear Spaniards say después del colegio to mean “after (primary) school.” However, después de la escuela is also perfectly understandable, so either phrase works to indicate the time after school hours.

Is there a difference between descansar and relajarse?

They’re similar, but descansar focuses on taking a break or recuperating energy, while relajarse emphasizes reducing stress or tension. In many contexts they can overlap, but you might descansar after any type of effort (physical or mental), and you might relajarte with activities specifically aimed at calming you down (like listening to music or meditating).