Breakdown of A ellos les gusta el queso, pero a mí no.
pero
but
no
no, not
ellos
they
a
to
mí
me
gustar
to like
les
to them / to you all
el queso
cheese
Questions & Answers about A ellos les gusta el queso, pero a mí no.
Why does the sentence use both A ellos and les? Isn't that saying "they" twice?
Yes, it kind of is! In Spanish, verbs like gustar require an indirect object pronoun—in this case, les (to them). The A ellos part is technically optional, but it is added for clarity or emphasis. Without A ellos, les gusta could mean "they like it" or "you all like it." Here, it is used to emphasize the contrast: They like cheese, but I do not.
Since "they" (ellos) is plural, why is the verb gusta singular instead of gustan?
Why is it el queso instead of just queso? In English we just say "they like cheese."
In Spanish, when you talk about a noun in a general, all-encompassing sense (like cheese in general), you must use a definite article (el, la, los, or las). Since "cheese" is the subject of the verb gusta, you have to include the el.
How does a mí no mean "but I do not"? Where is the word for "I" (yo)?
Because the first part of the sentence uses gustar, we have to keep the same structure for the second part. The full thought is pero a mí no me gusta el queso (but cheese is not pleasing to me). Rather than repeating the whole thing, Spanish naturally shortens it to just pero a mí no. We use a mí (to me) instead of yo (I) because you are still expressing who the cheese is not pleasing to.
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