I’m sure you have used «gustar» to express your preferences and interests. And I’m sure you know that the best way to remember the grammatical structure is to translate «gustar» as “to please”, “to be pleasing” or “to cause pleasure”. Me gusta viajar = travelling gives me pleasure = I like travelling/to travel But when you want to express the preferences and interests of other people, you may make mistakes, right? That’s very common, because these verbs can be complicated even for students at an advanced level of Spanish. Let’s explain why. The first thing you need to know is that there are many verbs which function like «gustar». Here is a list of the most common: aburrir to bore, to cause boredom apetecer to appeal, to be appealing asustar to frighten caer bien/mal to be likeable/unlikeable Me cae bien Luis = Luis is likeable to me = I like Luis Yo le caigo bien a Luis = I am likeable to Luis = Luis likes me dar miedo (pena/asco/vergüenza etc.) to cause fear (sorrow/disgust/shame etc.) divertir to amuse doler to cause pain encantar to cause great pleasure enganchar to captivate, to hook, to seize someone’s interest faltar to be missing fascinar to fascinate fastidiar to annoy favorecer to favour; to suit (e.g., a haircut. clothing) importar to be important, to matter impresionar to impress interesar to interest molestar to bother parecer (bien/mal/raro…) to seem (good/ bad/ strange etc.) preocupar to worry, to cause worry quedar (bien/mal) to suit (clothes, shoes etc.) saber mal to make someone feel bad Me sabe mal que… it feels bad to me that… = I feel bad/sorry that… valer to be useful, to be worth it Actually most of these verbs (except apetecer, doler, favorecer, quedar bien/mal) can be used in two different ways, although this is the most common : «me gusta» (singular subject), or «me gustan» (plural subject). Me gusta el cine «El cine» es el sujeto de la oración = Cinema gives me pleasure Yo le gusto a Pedro «Yo» es el sujeto de la oración = I am pleasing to Pedro (A mí) me gusta/n Yo gusto (a alguien) (A ti) te gusta/n Tú gustas (a alguien) (A él/ella/usted) le gusta/n Él/ella/usted gusta (a alguien) (A nosotros/as) nos gusta/n Nosotros/as gustamos (a alguien) (A vosotros/as) os gusta/n Vosotros/as gustáis (a alguien) (A ellos/as/ustedes) les gusta/ Ellos/as/ustedes gustan (a alguien) So far so good, right? But students often have difficulty referring to other peoples’ preferences and interests, because they forget to use pronouns and the preposition «a». Mi padre gusta > A mi padre le gusta Also, with «a mí, a ti, a ella», etc., many students also forget to use the pronouns «me, te, le, etc.» because they think it is an unnecessary repetition. But you always have to use these pronouns! A Juan gustan los animales > A Juan le gustan los animales So the use of «a mí, a ti, a él, etc.» is not obligatory unless we

This is the English transciption of the video above. Below we have a more detailed blog entry.   Transcription: Today we are going to explain how to express wishes and desires in Spanish, using the subjunctive. To express a wish you can use «¡Ojalá!», always with the subjunctive. The expression comes from  law šá lláh in Arabic (if Allah  wishes). Look at these examples: ¡Ojalá no llueva el fin de semana! ¡Ojalá consiga un trabajo pronto! But you can also use it to express wishes about the past, usisng el pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo. ¡Ojalá no haya habido ningún herido en el accidente!   We can also express a wish for the present that is impossible, or very unlikely to come about, using  el imperfecto de subjuntivo. ¡Ojalá me tocara la lotería! On the other hand, for an action that did not take place in the past, we use el pretérito pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo: ¡Ojalá no hubiera bebido tanto anoche! Tengo una resaca horrible.   Another way to express wishes in daily situations, referring to the future, is to use «Que» + subjuntivo, which is understood to mean «Deseo que» o «Espero que». I'm sure you've heard some of these examples: ¡Que pases un buen día! ¡Que te diviertas! ¡Que tengas suerte!   We can also use verbs like desear, querer, esperar, etc., using the subjunctive when we have two different subjects and the infinitive when there is only one subject. Look at these examples: Subjuntivo: Quiero que la gente recicle más. Infinitivo: Quiero reciclar más.   Finally, with these verbs we can use el subjuntivo en presente, pretérito perfecto, pretérito imperfecto or pluscuamperfecto. Here are some examples: Tengo ganas de que llegue el verano. Espero que hayas terminado de trabajar. Antes siempre tenía ganas de que mis padres me visitaran. Deseé que hubieras venido a mi fiesta de cumpleaños.   OK, that's all for today.  In our blog you'll find more uses of the subjunctive.   Our complete mini-lessons come with an annotated transcription,  more detailed grammar notes where we explain examples of the subjunctive that came up in the video, and some interactive excercises. For example, we explain another example of the subjuctive in this mini-lesson. Un poco de gramática: some uses of the subjunctive We know that the use of the subjunctive is one of the most difficult features of Spanish grammar for speakers of other languages. So in this blog we will be uploading short explanations of various uses of the subjunctive, in present and past tenses, with examples that will help you understand this aspect of Spanish grammar. Today we’ll focus on using the subjunctive to express wishes, hopes, desires, preferences, etc. after fixed expressions like ¡Ojalá! or with verbs such as desear, querer, esperar, preferir, tener ganas de, apetecer, etc. 1.1. Fixed expressions: ¡Ojala! and Que…: These expressions are always followed by the subjunctive. ¡Ojalá te haya llegado ya mi regalo! This word comes from Arabic (law sha’a Allah) and the literal meaning is “God