Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque.

Me gusta hacer ejercicio.
= Doing exercise is pleasing to me.
- me = to me (indirect object)
- gusta = is pleasing (3rd person singular)
- hacer ejercicio = subject of the verb

Using “Yo gusto” would mean “I please (someone)”, which is not what you want here.

When do I say “me gusta” vs “me gustan”?

Use me gusta when the thing that pleases you is:

Singular:
- Me gusta el parque. – I like the park.
An infinitive verb (or several infinitives treated as a unit):
- Me gusta hacer ejercicio. – I like to exercise.
- Me gusta leer y escribir. – I like reading and writing.

Use me gustan when the thing that pleases you is plural:

Me gustan los parques. – I like parks.
Me gustan tus ideas. – I like your ideas.

In Me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque, the subject is the whole phrase “hacer ejercicio en el parque”, treated as one activity, so it’s me gusta (singular).

Why do I need “hacer”? Why not just say “Me gusta ejercicio”?

You can’t say “Me gusta ejercicio” to mean “I like to exercise”. In Spanish:

After gustar, when you want to talk about an action you like doing, you normally use an infinitive verb:
- Me gusta leer. – I like reading.
- Me gusta correr. – I like running.

The expression for “to exercise / to work out” is usually:

hacer ejercicio – literally “to do exercise”.

So you say:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio. – I like to exercise.

Without hacer, ejercicio is just a noun (“exercise”), and Me gusta ejercicio sounds ungrammatical and incomplete in Spanish.

What is the difference between “hacer ejercicio” and “hacer ejercicios”?

Both exist, but they mean different things:

hacer ejercicio (singular, uncountable sense)
- General activity of exercising / working out.
- Me gusta hacer ejercicio. – I like to exercise / work out.
hacer ejercicios (plural)
- Doing specific exercises (sets, reps, practice problems):
  - hacer ejercicios de matemáticas – do math exercises
  - hacer ejercicios de estiramiento – do stretching exercises

In the sentence Me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque, we’re talking about the general activity of working out, so ejercicio in the singular is the natural choice.

Why is it “en el parque” and not “al parque”?

en el parque = in/at the park (location)
al parque = to the park (direction, movement)

In your sentence:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque.
= I like doing exercise in the park (that’s where you are when exercising).

If you talk about movement toward the park, you use a / al:

Voy al parque para hacer ejercicio. – I go to the park to exercise.

So here, en is correct because you’re describing where you exercise, not where you go.

Why is it “en el parque” and not “en un parque”?

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:

en el parque – in the park (a specific or typical park that both speaker and listener can identify, or “the park” as your usual place)
- Suggests my usual park, or the local park, or parks in general as a known place.
en un parque – in a park (any park, not specified which)
- Focuses on the type of place rather than a particular one.

So:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque.
Often means “I like working out in the park (where I usually go / the one near here).”
Me gusta hacer ejercicio en un parque.
Suggests “I like working out in a park (not at home or in a gym).”

Could I say “Me gusta hacer deporte en el parque” instead of “hacer ejercicio”?

Yes, but there’s a nuance:

hacer ejercicio – to exercise / work out (more general: running, gym, stretching, etc.; doesn’t need to be a sport).
hacer deporte – to do sports / play sports (usually implies some kind of sport: football, basketball, tennis, etc.).

In Spain:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque.
= I like working out in the park (maybe running, calisthenics, etc.).
Me gusta hacer deporte en el parque.
= I like doing sports in the park (maybe playing football, basketball, etc.).

Both are correct; choose according to what you want to emphasize: general exercise vs sports.

If I want to emphasize I like it (not someone else), how do I say that?

Spanish uses a stressed phrase with a plus a pronoun:

A mí me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque.

Here:

A mí adds emphasis: “As for me / I personally”.
me is still required; you do not drop it.

You cannot say:

✗ Yo me gusta hacer ejercicio… – incorrect.

Correct options:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque. – neutral.
A mí me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque. – emphasizes “I (as opposed to others) like it.”

Where do I put “mucho” if I want to say “I really like”?

You normally put mucho right after gusta:

Me gusta mucho hacer ejercicio en el parque.
= I really like / I like very much doing exercise in the park.

Be careful: moving mucho can change the meaning:

Me gusta mucho hacer ejercicio en el parque.
→ I really like the activity.
Me gusta hacer mucho ejercicio en el parque.
→ I like doing a lot of exercise in the park (a large quantity or for a long time).

So for “I really like to exercise in the park”, use:

Me gusta mucho hacer ejercicio en el parque.

Can I change the word order, like “Hacer ejercicio en el parque me gusta”?

Yes, but it sounds marked (more literary or with special emphasis).

Possible orders:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque. – most natural, everyday Spanish.
Hacer ejercicio en el parque me gusta. – emphasizes the activity itself: “Exercising in the park, I like that.”
A mí me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque. – emphasizes I.

All are grammatically correct, but in normal conversation, you’ll almost always hear:

Me gusta hacer ejercicio en el parque.

Is “ejercicio” masculine or feminine? How do I know?

Ejercicio is masculine:

el ejercicio – the exercise
mucho ejercicio – lots of exercise
hacer ejercicio – to exercise

You can see that in your sentence with el parque as well:

el parque – the park (masculine)

The gender of nouns in Spanish is mostly lexical (you need to learn it with the word), though many -o endings are masculine, as in ejercicio and parque (which ends in -e but is also masculine).

How would I say “I liked doing exercise in the park” (past tense)?

You have two main options, depending on the meaning:

Completed event (one time or specific time):
- Me gustó hacer ejercicio en el parque.
  → I liked (on that occasion) doing exercise in the park.
Habit / repeated action in the past:
- Me gustaba hacer ejercicio en el parque.
  → I used to like doing exercise in the park / I liked doing exercise in the park (in general, back then).

Structure is the same:

me = to me
gustó / gustaba = pleased (past)
hacer ejercicio en el parque = the activity you liked.