Learn Spanish (Spain): ¿Te gusta cantar?

¿Te gusta cantar?

Do you like to sing?

Breakdown of ¿Te gusta cantar?

gustar

to like

to you / yourself (reflexive) / you (direct object)

cantar

to sing

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Questions & Answers about ¿Te gusta cantar?

Why do we use te instead of tú here?

In Spanish, the verb gustar works differently than the English verb "to like." Instead of saying "You like to sing," Spanish literally says "To sing is pleasing to you." The word te is an indirect object pronoun that means "to you," whereas tú is the subject pronoun "you."

Why is the verb gusta used instead of gustas, since the question is about "you"?

Because "you" are not the subject of the sentence! The subject is actually the action of singing (cantar). Since cantar acts as a single thing (an "it"), we use the "he/she/it" form of the verb, which is gusta.

If I want to ask about multiple activities, does gusta become plural (gustan)?

No, it stays singular. When you talk about liking actions, the verbs are kept in their basic, unconjugated form (the infinitive, like cantar). Even if you list several activities you like doing, you still use the singular gusta.

Where is the word for "do" in this question?

Spanish doesn't use helper words like "do" or "does" to make questions. To turn the statement Te gusta cantar (You like to sing) into a question, you simply add the upside-down and regular question marks and raise the pitch of your voice at the end of the sentence.