Maybe you like learning languages, swimming, or going to parties. Or maybe you dislike studying, physical activity, and social events—whatever it is you like or dislike, this article aims to teach you how to express that in Spanish!
What is it that you like/dislike?
Remember, when you’re saying what you like and dislike, you can refer to various things. You can talk about a noun:
| No me gusta la música pop. | I don’t like pop music. |
You can talk about an action (a verb):
| No me gusta nadar. | I don’t like swimming, |
You can talk about an idea or concept. This might require the subjunctive!
| No me gusta que me mientas tanto. | I don’t like that you lie to me so much. |
Saying that you like something
Let’s start with your ‘gustos’ (likes)! There are several phrases that you can use to say that you like something. Most of them are constructions with verbs.
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A lot of these constructions can confuse students a bit, because they’re not as simple as ‘I like X.’ Instead, they take the form of ‘X pleases/amuses/fascinates me.’
When we learn basic sentences in Spanish, we often use a simple subject-verb(-object) word order, like in these examples:
| Yo hablo. | I speak. |
| Pedro escribe cartas. | Pedro writes letters. |
When we throw in some indirect object pronouns, things get a little more sophisticated.
| Yo te hablo. | I speak to you. |
| Pedro me escribe cartas. | Pedro writes letters to me. |
(If we want to, we can add a part that emphasizes who the ‘recipient’ of the action is, for example, ‘Yo te hablo a ti.’ If you want to know more about direct and indirect object pronouns, we’ve got you covered!)
‘Gustar,’ which means ‘to please’ is just a verb like any other; don’t be intimidated by it! The reason students get confused is that it gets mistranslated as ‘to like.’ Technically, ‘gustar’ does not mean ‘to like.’ It means ‘to please.’ If X pleases Pedro, then Pedro likes X.
Let’s use the verb gustar to begin with, to see what happens when we use verbs with indirect object pronouns. You can have a lot of fun switching up the word order here!
*Some of the sentences are grammatically unnatural (so we recommend you don’t use them), but they help with explanation, so bear with us!
| Gustar | To please |
| La música gusta.* | Music pleases. |
| La música gusta a Pedro.* | Music pleases Pedro. |
| La música le gusta a Pedro. | Music pleases Pedro. |
| A Pedro le gusta la música. | To Pedro, music is pleasing. |
| La música le gusta. | Music pleases him/her (i.e. he/she likes music.) |
| Le gusta la música. | Music pleases him/her (i.e. he/she likes music.) |
| La música me gusta. | Music pleases me. (i.e. I like music.) |
| Me gusta la música. | Music pleases me. (i.e. I like music.) |
You can see that it’s very unnatural to say things like, ‘To Pedro, music is pleasing.’ And that’s why we translate it as ‘Pedro likes music.’ So if you’re ever confused about word order, remember that ‘to like’ is a figurative English translation, but that ‘gustar’ actually means ‘to please.’
| Gustar | To please |
| Me gusta la música. | I like music. (Music pleases me.) |
| Encantar (me encanta) | To make happy (I love) |
| Bailar me encanta. | I love dancing. (Dancing makes me really happy.) |
| Divertir | To amuse |
| Me divierten los dibujos animados. | Cartoons amuse me. |
| Fascinar | To fascinate |
| Me fascina la ciencia. | Science fascinates me. |
| Hacer reír | To make laugh |
| Mi hermana me hace reír cada día. | My sister makes me laugh every day. |
| Hacer sonreír | To make smile |
| Me haces sonreír. | You make me smile. |
| Interesar | To interest |
| Me interesa mucho el tema. | The topic really interests me. |
| Amar | To love |
| Te amo. | I love you. |
| ¡X mola! (Madrid slang) | X rocks! |
| ¡Lo máximo! (Colombian slang) | Awesome! |
Saying why you like it!
Once you’ve said that you like something, it makes sense to justify your opinion with a reason.
First off, you’ll need some ways to say ‘because.’
| Porque es | Because it’s |
| Ya que es | Because/seeing as it’s |
| Puesto que es | Because/seeing as it’s |
Here’s a list of positive adjectives to describe a thing that you like.
Positive adjectives
| Agradable | Pleasant |
| Amable | Friendly |
| Bueno | Good |
| Delicioso | Delicious |
| Divertido | Fun |
| Estupendo | Stupendous |
| Excelente | Excellent |
| Fabuloso | Fabulous |
| Fácil | Easy |
| Fantástico | Fantastic |
| Fascinante | Fascinating |
| Fenomenal | Phenomenal |
| Inteligente | Intelligent |
| Interesante | Interesting |
| Magnífico | Magnificent |
| Maravilloso | Marvellous |
| Precioso | Beautiful |
| Simpático | Nice |
| Útil | Useful |
Saying what you dislike
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None of us can pretend to like everything. It’s just as important to be able to express what you don’t like. So, let’s look at how to describe your ‘disgustos’/‘aversiones’/‘antipatías’ (dislikes)!
Negative verb constructions
| No me gusta cocinar. | I don’t like cooking. |
| Las matemáticas no me gustan. | I don’t like mathematics. |
| No me gusta X para nada. | I don’t like X at all. |
| Odio X. | I hate X. |
| Aburrir | To bore |
| Me aburren sus mentiras. | His lies bore me. |
| Cansar | To tire |
| Tus mentiras me cansan. | Your lies tire me. |
| Fastidiar | To annoy |
| Me fastidia su voz. | Her voice annoys me. |
| Irritar | To irritate |
| Me irrita aquella película. | That movie irritates me. |
| Molestar | To annoy |
| Daniela me molesta. | Daniela annoys me. |
| No me va X. | X doesn’t suit me. |
| Detesto X. | I detest X. |
| Aborrezco X. | I abhor X. |
And here are some negative adjectives to explain why you dislike something!
| Aburrido | Boring |
| Asqueroso | Disgusting |
| Complicado | Complicated |
| Difícil | Difficult |
| Horrible | Horrible |
| Malo | Bad |
| Molesto | Annoying |
| Repugnante | Revolting |
If these are too strong for you, then you could use the word ‘demasiado’ with a more neutral adjective. It means ‘too.’ For example,
| No me gusta X porque para mí es demasiado … | I don’t like X because for me it’s too … |
| largo | long |
| científico | sciencey |
| rosa | pink |
| dulce | sweet |
| caliente | hot |
Sitting on the fence
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Sometimes you don’t necessarily like or dislike something. Here are some phrases to use for those in-between situations:
| Vale | It’s okay. |
| Me da igual. | It’s the same to me. |
| Está bien. | It’s okay. |
| La verdad es que prefiero … | The truth is that I prefer … |
Quiz
For each example, choose the best translation from the options given.
1. Me gusta bailar porque es divertido.
a. I love to dance because it’s fun.
b. I like to dance because it’s fun.
c. I like to dance because it’s boring.
b. I like to dance because it’s fun.
2. Detesto la música rap.
a. I love rap music.
b. I hate rap music.
c. I’m indifferent to rap music.
b. I hate rap music.
3. Mi gato me hace sonreír.
a. My cat makes me smile.
b. My cat makes me happy.
c. My cat is smiley.
a. My cat makes me smile.
4. Me aburren los documentales.
a. Documentaries excite me.
b. Documentaries upset me.
c. Documentaries bore me.
c. Documentaries bore me.
5. ¿Mis gustos culinarios? Me encantan los mariscos y aprecio el vino tinto.
a. My culinary likes? I love seafood and I appreciate red wine.
b. My culinary dislikes? I love seafood and I appreciate red wine.
c. My culinary likes? I like seafood and don’t mind wine.
a. My culinary likes? I love seafood and I appreciate red wine.
We like it when you learn!
Hopefully in this article you’ve learned a few different ways of expressing your likes and dislikes in Spanish. Practice a little every day to help solidify what you’ve learned!
