If you need a lesson to learn Spanish and would like to move past talking about the weather and your age, this real-life lesson is for you. I am going to cover the basics of talking about your interests, which is much more likely to come up in casual conversation than your birth date or the current temperature.
The verb “gustar”
I wrote a more detailed version of how to use this verb in this article: A Basic Spanish Lesson on Conjugating Verbs Like GUSTAR. This is just a really quick look at how to use it in this type of conversation.
The most important thing to understand about gustar is that it does NOT conjugate to match the person you are talking about, so it in the present tense you will only need gusta and gustan.
Gusta is for when you are talking about something in the singular, which includes verbs.
Examples:
Me gusta correr (I like to run.)
Te gusta música (You like music.)
Gustan is for when you are talking about multiple things.
Examples:
Me gustan los parques. (I like parks.)
Te gustan las películas. (You like movies.)
You may have noticed I used me and te in front of gustar. Again, the aforementioned article will go into the uses in more depth, but we’re only going to look at these two for now.
As you may have guess, me is used when you are talking about what you personally like while te is used to talk about what the person you are talking to likes.
So a question about your interests would be: ¿Qué te gusta hacer?
To which you could answer: Me gusta correr.
Using gustar in the negative
Don’t worry, this is super easy. All you have to do is toss a no in front of the sentence.
Examples:
No me gusta cantar. (I don’t like to sing.)
No te gusta cocinar. (You don’t like to cook.)
So, you might be asked something like, ¿Te gusta ir de compras? (Do you like to go shopping?) and you could answer No, no me gusta. (No, I don’t like it.)
Another common question might involve food, such as ¿Te gustan las manzanas? to which you could answer, Sí, me gustan (Yes, I like them).
Helpful vocabulary to talk about your interests in Spanish
Here are some common activities so you can memorize a few and be able to express interest or lack of interest in them.
1. bailar: dance
2. comer: eat
3. caminar: walk
4. cantar: sing
5. correr: run
6. dibujar: draw
7. escribir: write
8. leer: read
9. cocinar: cook
10. mirar/ver (televisón/películas): watch (tv/movies)
11. tocar (guitarra/piano/batería): play (guitar/piano/drums)
Check out these other articles about Spanish Lessons.