Learn Spanish (Latin America): A mi hermano no le gusta la fruta.

Word

A mi hermano no le gusta la fruta.

Meaning

My brother doesn't like fruit.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Spanish (Latin America)

Lesson

Plural likes (me gustan)

Breakdown of A mi hermano no le gusta la fruta.

el hermano

the brother

no, not

Questions & Answers about A mi hermano no le gusta la fruta.

Why does the sentence start with A?

In Spanish, verbs like gustar work backwards compared to English. Literally, this sentence means 'To my brother, fruit is not pleasing.' The A translates to 'To', and it is used to specify exactly who is experiencing the feeling, pointing to 'my brother'.

The lesson is about gustan with plural nouns, so why is it gusta here?

The verb gustar changes based on what is being liked, not who is doing the liking. Because la fruta (the fruit) is a singular noun, we use the singular form gusta. If the sentence was about him not liking apples (las manzanas), we would have to use the plural form gustan.

Why do we need le if we already said A mi hermano?

Spanish requires the indirect object pronoun (le here, meaning 'to him') when using verbs like gustar. You must always include this pronoun, even if you just clearly named the person with A mi hermano. The phrase A mi hermano is for clarification or emphasis, but le is the mandatory grammar piece.

Why do we say la fruta when the English translation just says 'fruit'?