Breakdown of Me gusta escuchar tu acento cuando hablas mi lengua.
Questions & Answers about Me gusta escuchar tu acento cuando hablas mi lengua.
In Spanish, gustar does not work like to like in English.
English: I like your accent.
- Subject: I
- Verb: like
- Object: your accent
Spanish with gustar: Me gusta tu acento.
Literally: Your accent pleases me.- Subject: tu acento
- Verb: gusta (3rd person singular to agree with tu acento)
- Indirect object: me (to me)
So you cannot say yo gusto tu acento to mean I like your accent. That would mean something like I am pleasing your accent, which is not how Spanish expresses this idea.
Me gusta = it pleases me → I like it.
The verb form in gustar agrees with the thing (or things) that are liked:
- Me gusta el libro. – I like the book. (singular → gusta)
- Me gustan los libros. – I like the books. (plural → gustan)
In the sentence Me gusta escuchar tu acento, the grammatical subject is the infinitive phrase escuchar tu acento (listening to your accent). An infinitive used as a noun is grammatically singular, so you use gusta, not gustan.
Think: Escuchar tu acento (that activity) me gusta → Listening to your accent pleases me.
No, that would be incorrect and confusing.
- Yo me gusto would mean I like myself (and even that is rarely said; Spanish would usually say me gusto a mí mismo only in very specific contexts).
- The correct way to say I like listening to your accent is Me gusta escuchar tu acento.
So:
- ✅ Me gusta escuchar tu acento.
- ❌ Yo me gusto escuchar tu acento.
Yes, you can say Me gusta oír tu acento, and it is grammatically correct.
Difference in nuance:
- oír = to hear (perceive sound; more passive)
- escuchar = to listen (to) (paying attention; more active)
In this context:
- Me gusta oír tu acento. – I like hearing your accent.
- Me gusta escuchar tu acento. – I like listening to your accent (with attention).
Both are understandable, but escuchar sounds a bit more intentional and fits well with the idea that you enjoy paying attention to the person’s accent.
Spanish generally does not use a preposition after escuchar when it has a direct object:
- Escucho música. – I listen to music.
- Escucho la radio. – I listen to the radio.
- Me gusta escuchar tu acento. – I like listening to your accent.
So you should say:
- ✅ escuchar tu acento
- ❌ escuchar a tu acento (incorrect here)
The preposition a appears with some verbs for a person as a direct object (the personal a), but acento is not a person, so you don’t use a.
Spanish distinguishes between:
- tú (with accent) = subject pronoun you
- tu (no accent) = possessive adjective your
Here we need your accent, so we use the possessive adjective:
- tu acento – your accent (no written accent)
Similarly:
- mí (with accent) = stressed form of me, almost always used with a preposition, e.g. para mí (for me)
- mi (no accent) = possessive adjective my
Here we need my language, so:
- mi lengua – my language (no written accent)
So in the sentence:
- tu acento = your accent
- mi lengua = my language
Both are possessive adjectives and therefore do not take an accent mark.
All of the following are possible, but they sound slightly different:
cuando hablas mi lengua (original)
- Literally: when you speak my language
- In Spanish, you can often omit the preposition en before a language.
- Common: hablar inglés/español/francés/mi lengua.
cuando hablas en mi lengua
- Also correct.
- Slightly more explicit: when you speak in my language.
- The meaning is practically the same; en is optional here.
Both versions work. The original is just a little simpler and very natural. In everyday speech in Spain, you will hear both hablar español and hablar en español.
With cuando, Spanish uses:
- Present indicative when talking about something that actually happens (a general truth, habit, or real-time situation).
- Subjunctive when talking about a future or hypothetical situation (especially in subordinate clauses with a future meaning).
In this sentence:
- Me gusta escuchar tu acento cuando hablas mi lengua.
This is a general statement about what you like whenever this person speaks your language. It’s a habitual, real situation, so you use the present indicative hablas.
Compare:
Me gusta escuchar tu acento cuando hablas mi lengua.
– I like listening to your accent when you speak my language (in general).Me gustará escucharte cuando hables mi lengua.
– I will enjoy listening to you when you speak my language (in the future; hence hables, subjunctive).
You cannot add yo in that way, because the subject of gusta is not yo. Remember:
- Me gusta escuchar tu acento.
Literally: Listening to your accent pleases me.
So:
- yo is not the subject; escuchar tu acento is.
- You can add tú for emphasis in the second part, but not yo as the subject of gusta.
Natural options:
- ✅ (A mí) me gusta escuchar tu acento cuando hablas mi lengua.
- ✅ (A mí) me gusta escuchar tu acento cuando tú hablas mi lengua. (emphasis on tú)
But:
- ❌ Yo me gusta escuchar tu acento... (incorrect structure)
Yes, A mí me gusta escuchar tu acento is very common and correct.
- me = indirect object pronoun (required)
- a mí = prepositional phrase used for emphasis or clarification
Together:
- A mí me gusta... = I (as opposed to others) like...
The a mí part is optional and is used when you want to highlight me:
- Me gusta escuchar tu acento. – I like listening to your accent.
- A mí me gusta escuchar tu acento. – I like listening to your accent (maybe others don’t).
You must have me; a mí alone without me is incorrect here.
Yes, Spanish allows quite a bit of flexibility in word order, especially for emphasis. These are all possible:
- Me gusta escuchar tu acento. (most neutral)
- Escuchar tu acento me gusta. (emphasizes listening to your accent)
- Me gusta, escuchar tu acento. (in speech, maybe with a pause; poetic or very expressive)
However, Me gusta escuchar tu acento is the most natural and common everyday order. The version Escuchar tu acento me gusta sounds a bit more literary or poetic.
To be formal (addressing someone with usted), you change the possessive and the verb form:
- Me gusta escuchar su acento cuando habla mi lengua.
Changes:
- tu acento → su acento (your accent, formal)
- hablas → habla (usted form of the verb)
So:
- Informal (tú): Me gusta escuchar tu acento cuando hablas mi lengua.
- Formal (usted): Me gusta escuchar su acento cuando habla mi lengua.