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Gustar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to like”.
Below are all of the conjugations for gustar in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to like |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | gustar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está gustando) and past continuous (estaba gustando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. liking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he gustado and hubiera gustado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have liked).
| Gerundio / Gerund | gustando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | gustado |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I like” or “they like”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | gusto |
| Tú | gustas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gusta |
| Nosotros / as | gustamos |
| Vosotros / as | gustáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gustan |
| Vos | gustás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I liked” or “she liked” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | gusté | I liked |
| Tú | gustaste | You liked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gustó | He / she / you liked |
| Nosotros / as | gustamos | We liked |
| Vosotros / as | gustasteis | You liked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gustaron | They / you liked |
| Vos | gustaste | You liked |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was liking” or “she was liking” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | gustaba | I was liking |
| Tú | gustabas | You were liking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gustaba | He was / she was / you were liking |
| Nosotros / as | gustábamos | We were liking |
| Vosotros / as | gustabais | You were liking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gustaban | They / you were liking |
| Vos | gustabas | You were liking |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have liked” and “she has liked”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he gustado | I have liked |
| Tú | has gustado | You have liked |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha gustado | He has / she has / you have liked |
| Nosotros / as | hemos gustado | We have liked |
| Vosotros / as | habéis gustado | You have liked |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han gustado | They / you have liked |
| Vos | has gustado | You have liked |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would like” or “she would like”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | gustaría | I would like |
| Tú | gustarías | You would like |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gustaría | He / she / you would like |
| Nosotros / as | gustaríamos | We would like |
| Vosotros / as | gustaríais | You would like |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gustarían | They / you would like |
| Vos | gustarías | You would like |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will like” or “they will like”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a gustar” means “They are going to like”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | gustaré | I will like |
| Tú | gustarás | You will like |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gustará | He / she / you will like |
| Nosotros / as | gustaremos | We will like |
| Vosotros / as | gustaréis | You will like |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gustarán | They / you will like |
| Vos | gustarás | You will like |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | guste |
| Tú | gustes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | guste |
| Nosotros / as | gustemos |
| Vosotros / as | gustéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gusten |
| Vos | gustes |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | gustara | gustase |
| Tú | gustaras | gustase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gustara | gustase |
| Nosotros / as | gustáramos | gustásemos |
| Vosotros / as | gustarais | gustaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gustaran | gustasen |
| Vos | gustaras | gustase |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | gustare |
| Tú | gustares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | gustare |
| Nosotros / as | gustáremos |
| Vosotros / as | gustareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gustaren |
| Vos | gustares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “like!” and “don’t like!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | gusta | no gustes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | guste | no guste |
| Nosotros / as | gustemos | no gustemos |
| Vosotros / as | gustad | no gustéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | gusten | no gusten |
| Vos | gustá | no gustes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya gustado |
| Tú | hayas gustado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya gustado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos gustado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis gustado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan gustado |
| Vos | hayas gustado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera gustado / hubiese gustado |
| Tú | hubieras gustado / hubieses gustado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera gustado / hubiese gustado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos gustado / hubiésemos gustado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais gustado / hubieseis gustado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran gustado / hubiesen gustado |
| Vos | hubieras gustado / hubieses gustado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere gustado |
| Tú | hubieres gustado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere gustado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos gustado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis gustado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren gustado |
| Vos | hubieres gustado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté gustando |
| Tú | estés gustando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté gustando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos gustando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis gustando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén gustando |
| Vos | estés gustando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera gustando / estuviese gustando |
| Tú | estuvieras gustando / estuvieses gustando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera gustando / estuviese gustando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos gustando / estuviésamos gustando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais gustando / estuvieseis gustando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera gustando / estuviese gustando |
| Vos | estuvieras gustando / estuvieses gustando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere gustando |
| Tú | estuvieres gustando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere gustando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos gustando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis gustando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere gustando |
| Vos | estuvieres gustando |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos gustás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos gustaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos gustabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos gustarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos gustarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos gustes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos gustaras / Vos gustase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos gustá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no gustes |
