Me gusta saludar a la panadera por la mañana y despedirme de ella por la tarde.

Because gustar works differently from to like in English.

In Spanish, gustar literally works more like is pleasing to. So:

• Me gusta... = ... is pleasing to me
• Me = to me
• gusta = is pleasing

So in this sentence, the thing that is pleasing is the action of greeting the baker in the morning and saying goodbye to her in the afternoon.

Yo gusto would mean something more like I am pleasing / attractive, which is a completely different idea.

Because the two infinitives are being treated together as one general activity or one combined idea.

In Spanish, an infinitive can act like a noun. Here:

• saludar a la panadera por la mañana y despedirme de ella por la tarde

is the full subject of gusta.

Spanish often keeps gustar in the singular when infinitives are involved, even if there is more than one:

• Me gusta leer y escuchar música.

This sounds natural because the speaker is talking about a general habit or experience, not counting separate items one by one.

After gustar, Spanish often uses an infinitive when you like doing an action.

So:

• Me gusta saludar... = I like greeting...
• Me gusta correr. = I like running.
• Me gusta cocinar. = I like cooking.

The infinitive is the normal dictionary form of the verb, and after gustar it works like the thing you like doing.

Because despedirse is the verb meaning to say goodbye.

This verb is pronominal (often called reflexive in beginner courses), so it normally appears with a pronoun:

• despedirme = to say goodbye
• literally: to say goodbye myself

The important point is that in Spanish, the idiomatic verb is despedirse de alguien.

Compare:

• despedir = to dismiss, fire, send off
• despedirse = to say goodbye

So despedirme de ella means to say goodbye to her.

Because the verb is despedirse de alguien.

You don’t say goodbye someone directly in Spanish; you say goodbye from/to someone with de:

• despedirse de la panadera
• despedirme de ella

So the structure is:

• despedirse de + person

That is just the normal pattern of this verb and has to be learned with the preposition.

Because after a preposition like de, Spanish uses a stressed pronoun such as:

• mí
• ti
• él
• ella
• nosotros/as
• ellos/as

So:

• de ella = from her / to her in this structure

You cannot use a direct-object pronoun like la after a preposition. La is used in other positions, not after de.

That is the personal a.

In Spanish, when the direct object is a specific person, you usually put a before it:

• saludar a la panadera
• ver a mi amigo
• llamar a mi madre

Even though the baker is a job title, here it refers to a specific person, so the personal a is used.

Because in this sentence the speaker means a specific baker, not just any baker in general.

• la panadera = the baker
• una panadera = a baker
• panadera by itself would usually not work here

Using la tells us this is a known, identifiable person in the speaker’s daily routine.

Also, panadera is the feminine form, so it refers to a female baker. A male baker would be el panadero.

Saludar is the general verb to greet.

It does not specify exactly what words you say. It could include:

• saying hola
• saying buenos días
• smiling and acknowledging someone
• using some other greeting

So saludar a la panadera means greeting her in general, not necessarily using one exact phrase.

In Spain, por la mañana is the normal way to mean in the morning.

Likewise:

• por la mañana = in the morning
• por la tarde = in the afternoon / evening
• por la noche = at night / in the evening

En la mañana exists, but it is less common in Spain for this everyday time expression and often sounds more regional or more typical of some Latin American varieties.

So for Spanish from Spain, por la mañana and por la tarde are the most natural choices.

For the same reason as por la mañana: in Spain, the idiomatic expression is por la tarde.

It simply means in the afternoon or sometimes in the evening, depending on context.

Spanish divides the day differently from English in some situations, so la tarde can cover a wider period than English afternoon sometimes does.

Yes. You could say:

• Me gusta saludar a la panadera por la mañana y despedirme de la panadera por la tarde.

But that sounds repetitive. Spanish, like English, often prefers a pronoun when the reference is already clear.

So de ella is natural because it avoids repeating la panadera.

You could also say:

• Me gusta saludar a la panadera por la mañana y despedirme de ella por la tarde.

This is smoother and more natural.

Here, you need something after de because despedirse requires de + person.

So you need either:

• de la panadera
• de ella

You cannot just say:

• Me gusta saludar a la panadera por la mañana y despedirme por la tarde

unless the context already makes it obvious and you are using despedirme more generally, without explicitly saying goodbye to her. But in this sentence, the idea is clearly tied to the baker, so de ella is appropriate.

Yes, to some extent. Spanish word order is flexible.

For example, you could say:

• Me gusta saludar a la panadera por la mañana y despedirme de ella por la tarde.

You could also move some parts for emphasis, though the original is the most neutral and natural.

For example:

• Por la mañana me gusta saludar a la panadera y por la tarde despedirme de ella.

This sounds fine too, but it slightly emphasizes the time contrast.

So the original sentence is a very natural default order.

Yes.

• panadero = male baker
• panadera = female baker

Since the sentence later uses ella, we know the baker is female.

In English, baker does not usually show gender, but Spanish often does with nouns referring to people.

Yes, it sounds natural.

Especially natural features for Spain include:

• por la mañana
• por la tarde
• the use of me gusta + infinitive
• despedirme de ella with the correct verb structure

It sounds like a normal description of a daily habit or a pleasant routine.