Learn Spanish (Latin America): A los niños les gustan los juguetes nuevos.

A los niños les gustan los juguetes nuevos.

The children like new toys.

Breakdown of A los niños les gustan los juguetes nuevos.

Questions & Answers about A los niños les gustan los juguetes nuevos.

Why does the verb gustan end in an 'n' here?

With the verb gustar, the thing being liked is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence. Because the children like plural things (los juguetes), the verb must be in the plural form gustan. If they only liked one toy, it would be gusta.

Why do we need both a los niños and les? Don't they both refer to the children?

Yes, they do! Spanish often requires the pronoun les (meaning "to them") with verbs like gustar, even when you explicitly say who "they" are. The phrase a los niños is added to clarify exactly who les refers to.

Why is there a los before juguetes? In English we just say "new toys," not "the new toys."

In Spanish, when you talk about things you like or dislike as a general category, you always need the definite article (el, la, los, or las). Because toys are a masculine and plural noun, we use los.

Just a quick refresher: why is it juguetes nuevos instead of nuevos juguetes?