Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Me gusta mirar el cielo desde mi ventana. - I like to look at the sky from my window.

So you don’t say yo gusto el cielo, because that would mean “I am pleasing the sky.” The thing you like is the grammatical subject (here: mirar el cielo), and me is the person who experiences the liking.

What exactly does the pronoun me do in this sentence?

me is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me”. With gustar, the structure is:

[indirect object pronoun] + gusta + [thing/action that is liked]

So Me gusta mirar el cielo literally = “Looking at the sky is pleasing to me.”
You would change me depending on who likes it: te gusta, le gusta, nos gusta, os gusta, les gusta.

Why is it gusta and not gustan here?

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

Singular thing/action: gusta – Me gusta el café. / Me gusta mirar el cielo.
Plural things: gustan – Me gustan los cafés. / Me gustan las películas.

Here, the subject is the whole action mirar el cielo, which counts as a single thing, so we use gusta.

Why is mirar in the infinitive form? Could I say me gusta mirando el cielo?

After gustar, when you talk about liking an activity, you normally use the infinitive (dictionary form):

Me gusta mirar el cielo. = I like to look at the sky / looking at the sky.

Using mirando (gerund) here — Me gusta mirando el cielo — is incorrect in standard Spanish. The gerund is not used as a noun-like “-ing” the way English does; the infinitive plays that role after gustar.

Why don’t we put “to” before mirar, like in English “to look”?

English uses “to” + verb or verb + -ing after like: I like *to look / looking*.
Spanish doesn’t need a linking word like “to” here; the bare infinitive already expresses the idea of “to do something” as a general activity.
So Me gusta mirar directly corresponds to I like to look / I like looking, without any extra word.

Could I say Me gusta mirar al cielo instead of mirar el cielo? What’s the difference?

Both are possible, but there’s a nuance:

mirar el cielo = look at the sky (treating sky as a thing or surface you look at)
mirar al cielo = look up to the sky (more about the direction of your gaze)

In everyday speech they often overlap, and many natives wouldn’t notice a big difference in this sentence. In Spain, mirar el cielo is very natural here.

Why do we need the article el in el cielo? Could we just say mirar cielo?

In Spanish, singular countable nouns almost always need an article (or another determiner).
Generic things like the sky, the sea, the sun typically use the definite article: el cielo, el mar, el sol.
So mirar cielo sounds ungrammatical. You’d normally say mirar el cielo when talking about “the sky” in general.

Why is it mi ventana and not la ventana? Can I say desde la ventana?

mi ventana means “my window”, so it emphasizes that it’s specifically the speaker’s window.
la ventana = “the window”, which could be understood more generally (for example, the only window in the room/house).

Both are grammatically correct. Which one you choose depends on whether you want to stress that it’s your window (mi ventana) or just the window (la ventana).

Can I change the word order, like Desde mi ventana me gusta mirar el cielo? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, that word order is correct: Desde mi ventana me gusta mirar el cielo.
The basic meaning stays the same, but the focus shifts a bit:

Me gusta mirar el cielo desde mi ventana. → more neutral; focus on liking to look at the sky.
Desde mi ventana me gusta mirar el cielo. → slightly more emphasis on from my window as the starting point of the sentence.

Both sound natural in Spain.

What’s the difference between mirar and ver in this context?

mirar = to look (at), with intention/effort (you choose to direct your eyes).
ver = to see, more passive (what comes into your field of vision).

In Me gusta mirar el cielo, mirar is appropriate because you’re actively looking at the sky.
Me gusta ver el cielo is also possible, but it suggests more the idea of I like seeing the sky (e.g., when the sky is clear), slightly less about the deliberate action of staring at it.

Could I say A mí me gusta mirar el cielo desde mi ventana? Why add a mí?

Yes, A mí me gusta mirar el cielo desde mi ventana is perfectly correct and very common.
a mí adds emphasis or contrast, roughly like “I like…” in English:

A mí me gusta mirar el cielo, pero a él no.
Without any special contrast, you can simply say Me gusta…; adding a mí just highlights that it’s me in particular.

Could I say Me encanta mirar el cielo desde mi ventana instead of Me gusta?

Yes.

Me gusta = I like
Me encanta = I love / I really like a lot

So Me encanta mirar el cielo desde mi ventana is stronger: “I love looking at the sky from my window.”
Grammatically, it works exactly like gustar: Me encanta / Me encantan depending on what follows.