Breakdown of Me gusta tostar el pan y poner mantequilla y mermelada.
Questions & Answers about Me gusta tostar el pan y poner mantequilla y mermelada.
In Spanish, gustar does not work like to like in English.
In English: I like toast.
- I = subject
- toast = object
In Spanish with gustar: Me gusta tostar el pan.
- me = indirect object (the person affected)
- The thing that pleases you is the subject. Here, the subject is the action tostar el pan (to toast bread).
- gusta literally means is pleasing.
So the structure is literally:
Me gusta tostar el pan = To toast bread is pleasing to me.
Using yo gusto would mean I am pleasing (to someone), which is a different meaning.
Gusta agrees with the subject, which is the whole idea of tostar el pan y poner mantequilla y mermelada.
In Spanish, an infinitive (or several infinitives together) count as a single thing, so they take gusta (singular), not gustan.
Compare:
- Me gusta cantar. – I like singing. (one action → gusta)
- Me gusta cantar y bailar. – I like singing and dancing. (still one general activity → gusta)
- Me gustan las canciones. – I like the songs. (plural noun → gustan)
After gustar, when you talk about actions you like doing, you use infinitives (the to do form):
- Me gusta tostar el pan. – I like to toast the bread.
- Me gusta poner mantequilla. – I like to put butter on it.
If you changed them to a conjugated form, the structure would change and become wrong or mean something else. For example:
- ❌ Me gusta tosto el pan. (incorrect)
- ✅ Me gusta tostar el pan. (correct)
There are two different things happening:
El pan
- We often use the article el with pan when we mean bread in a general or specific way in a situation like this.
- Me gusta tostar el pan can be understood as I like to toast (the) bread (in general / the bread I have).
- You could also say Me gusta tostar pan (without el) to mean I like to toast bread (in general). Both are possible; the article slightly changes the feel, not the basic meaning.
Mantequilla and mermelada
- These are often treated as uncountable here (like “butter” and “jam” in English).
- In this type of sentence, Spanish often omits the article for uncountable nouns used in a general way:
- poner mantequilla y mermelada ≈ put butter and jam on it (some amount, in general).
If you say la mantequilla / la mermelada, you’re usually talking about specific butter/jam you have already mentioned or both speakers know about.
Yes, you can say Me gusta tostar pan.
- Me gusta tostar el pan
- Slightly more concrete. Often feels like the bread I have at home / the bread in this context.
- Me gusta tostar pan
- More generic: I like to toast bread (as an activity, in general).
Both are grammatical and natural; the difference is subtle and often depends on context.
You can say poner la mantequilla y la mermelada, but it sounds more like you are referring to specific butter and jam, for example ones already mentioned or on the table:
- Me gusta poner la mantequilla y la mermelada que compramos ayer.
In the original sentence, poner mantequilla y mermelada describes a habitual action in general, not specific items, so Spanish naturally drops the article. It’s similar to English I like to put butter and jam on it, not the butter and the jam.
In Spanish, y (and) changes to e only when the next word starts with the sound /i/ (like i- or hi-):
- padres e hijos
- vino e hielo
Since mermelada starts with me-, not an i sound, we keep y:
- mantequilla y mermelada (correct)
- mantequilla e mermelada (incorrect)
Yes, and it is a bit more specific:
Me gusta tostar el pan y poner mantequilla y mermelada.
- Focuses on the two actions you like doing: toasting and then putting butter and jam.
Me gusta poner mantequilla y mermelada en el pan tostado.
- Focuses more on the final result: butter and jam on toasted bread.
- It doesn’t explicitly say that you are the one who toasts it, just that you like putting butter and jam on toasted bread.
Both are natural; which you use depends on what you want to emphasise.
You do not use a here.
With gustar, when it is followed by verbs, those verbs go directly in the infinitive:
- ✅ Me gusta cantar.
- ✅ Me gusta cantar y bailar.
- ✅ Me gusta tostar el pan y poner mantequilla.
Using a (Me gusta a tostar) is incorrect in this structure. The infinitive itself acts as the subject of gusta and needs no preposition.
Tostar itself is not necessarily reflexive; the basic verb is tostar.
- Me gusta tostar el pan. – I like to toast the bread.
You can hear tostarme el pan in colloquial speech in Spain:
- Me gusta tostarme el pan.
This reflexive-like use (tostarme) often adds a nuance of doing it for myself / for my own benefit, similar to I like to toast my own bread. It’s very informal and common in everyday Spanish, but the neutral, standard version is tostar el pan.
Both are used in Spain, but they focus on slightly different ideas:
poner mantequilla
- Literally: to put butter (on it).
- Very common and neutral. Emphasises the action of placing/adding butter.
untar mantequilla
- Literally: to spread butter.
- Emphasises the spreading motion, like using a knife.
- More precise when you want to highlight that you are spreading butter evenly.
In everyday conversation about toast, Spaniards might say either, for example:
- Me gusta untar mantequilla en la tostada.
- Me gusta poner mantequilla en el pan tostado.
Both sound natural; poner is more general, untar is more specific.
In Spain, mermelada is the general word for jam / preserves made with fruit, including what English speakers call jam and often also marmalade (orange jam).
So in this sentence, mermelada is best understood as jam in general. If you want to be specific, you can say, for example:
- mermelada de fresa – strawberry jam
- mermelada de naranja – orange marmalade (in British English)