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Gostar Posted by on Mar 31, 2008 in Grammar

Gostar is an important verb to learn and is luckily fairly easy to use. It means “to like,” but is used in various contexts. Unlike the Spanish gustar, which is a bit tricky for English-speakers to learn, gostar is a completely regular verb.

Here are of gostar‘s uses.

First, in the present tense, it can mean something you normally enjoy or prefer.
Example: Você gosta de futebol? Do you like soccer?

Also in the present tense, it means if you are attracted to someone.
Example: Ele gosta da minha irmã. He likes [is attracted to] my sister.

Next, used in the gerund form, it can mean something you are currently enjoying at the moment.
Example: Estou gostando do Rio. I’m enjoying Rio.

In the past tense, it’s a very simple way of saying you had a good time or enjoyed something.  
Example: Você gostou da festa? Did you have a good time at the party?
Gostei.   Yes, I did.

Finally, used in the conditional tense, it means something you’d like to do.
Example: Gostariamos de conhecer Cuba. We’d like to visit Cuba.

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Comments:

  1. Linda Calk:

    I enjoy the blogs, but I had two questions about this one. For the Spanish gustar, wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that it takes an indirect object pronoun rather than a reflexive?

    Also, isn’t Cuba one of the exceptions to the rule that names of countries use definite articles?

  2. Rachel:

    In terms of the Spanish gustarse, it’s a matter of semantics. The point is that it doesn’t work in the same way as the Portuguese gostar.

    Also, Cuba is an exception in that it does not use an article, like most countries do. For example, we say “No Brasil” for “In Brazil” but we say “Em Cuba” for “In Cuba.”