A mi tía no le gustan los mejillones, pero mi prima pide calamares cuando vamos al bar del puerto.

to like

Breakdown of A mi tía no le gustan los mejillones, pero mi prima pide calamares cuando vamos al bar del puerto.

• mi: my
• cuando: when
• pero: but

Questions & Answers about A mi tía no le gustan los mejillones, pero mi prima pide calamares cuando vamos al bar del puerto.

Why does the sentence use gustan instead of gusta?

Because los mejillones is plural, and with gustar the verb agrees with the thing being liked or disliked.

• A mi tía no le gusta el mejillón = if it were singular
• A mi tía no le gustan los mejillones = plural

So the grammatical subject is los mejillones, not mi tía.

Why is it a mi tía and also le? Aren’t they both referring to the aunt?

Yes, they both refer to the aunt, but this is normal in Spanish. It is called indirect object doubling.

• le is the indirect object pronoun
• a mi tía specifies who le refers to

With gustar, the pronoun is especially important and is usually kept. The longer phrase often adds clarity or emphasis.

So:

• Le gustan los mejillones = She likes mussels / Mussels please her
• A mi tía le gustan los mejillones = makes it clear that her means my aunt

How should I think about gustar in this sentence?