Me gusta estudiar sentado en la biblioteca.

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Breakdown of Me gusta estudiar sentado en la biblioteca.

• gustar: to like
• en: in
• estudiar: to study

Questions & Answers about Me gusta estudiar sentado en la biblioteca.

Why is it me gusta and not yo gusto?

In Spanish, gustar doesn’t work like English to like.

• Literal idea: gustar ≈ to be pleasing (to someone).
• So me gusta = it is pleasing to me → I like it.

Structure:

• me = to me (indirect object pronoun)
• gusta = is pleasing (3rd person singular of gustar)

Saying yo gusto estudiar… would mean something like I am pleasing to study…, which is wrong. You need me gusta to express I like….

What exactly does me do in me gusta? Is it a direct object?

me in me gusta is an indirect object pronoun meaning to me.

With gustar, the structure is:

• A mí / me = to me (indirect object)
• gusta = is pleasing (verb)
• estudiar sentado en la biblioteca = the thing that pleases me (subject of the verb)

So grammatically, the person who likes something is in the indirect object, not as the subject. The same happens with other people:

• Te gusta… = You like… (to you it is pleasing)
• Le gusta… = He/She/You-formal like(s)… (to him/her/you it is pleasing)
• Nos gusta… = We like…
• Os gusta… (Spain) = You all like…
• Les gusta… = They/You all like…