Did you notice all of the verbs like gustar in the story you just read?

• Yo soy un monstruo grande y a ti te asustan los monstruos grandes.

• No me importa. A mí me encantan tus canciones.

You probably remember learning the verb gustar and encantar. They work differently than other verbs - sometimes they are called Reverse Verbs because of this.

Gustar literally means "to be pleasing to" , but we express it in English as "to like". If you read the following sentences "in reverse" (as in from right to left)

• Me gusta el libro. → The book is pleasing to me.

• Me gustan los libros. → The books are pleasing to me.

This is why we don't use the subject pronouns yo, tú, él, etc, we use the indirect object pronouns me, te le, nos, les (to me, to him, to us etc) in front of the verb gustar. Remember that we are not saying "I like books", but rather "books are pleasing to somebody", or "swimming is pleasing to us or them" etc. → The word order is reversed - thus the nickname Reverse Verb.

Here are some other Reverse Verbs that you will be able to use after a bit of practice:

Pay attention to the meaning of the words and their pronunciation.

	aburrir	Cansarse de algo. Sufrir un estado de ánimo producido por falta de estímulos
	asustar	Dar o causar susto
	bastar	Ser suficiente
	dar asco	Producir una impresión desagradable
	disgustar	Causar enfado, pesadumbre o desazón.
	divertir	Entretener, pasarlo bien
	doler	Padecer dolor
	encantar	Gustar en gran medida
	emocionar	Causar emoción
	faltar	No haber, carecer
	fascinar	Atraer irresistiblemente
	importar	Interesar, valer
	interesar	Cautivar la atención
	molestar	Causar molestia
	parecer	Opinar, creer
	preocupar	Producir intranquilidad, temor, angustia o inquietud
	sobrar	Superar, exceder
	sorprender	Coger desprevenido

When using third person, singular or plural, we often need to clarify the meaning of le or les. In the sentence "Le gusta la música", we are not really sure who "Le" refers to.

• To clarify the meaning we use: a + ella/él/usted → A ella le duele la cabeza. → A ellos les duelen los pies.
  

• Or, we use the person's name. → A Miguel le interesa mucho la música.→ A Miguel le interesan mucho tus ideas.

We can do the same with all of the others to give emphasis: a mí, a tí, a nosotros, a vosotros, a ellos, a ellas, a ustede, etc.

Of course gustar and the other 'Reverse Verbs' are used in other tenses as well - let's try this in Past Tense:

Can you determine when you would use me gustó (preterite) as opposed to me gustaba (imperfect)? Check out these examples:

• ¿Te gustó la pelicula anoche? ¡Sí, me encantó, pero los zombies me asustaron!

  ¿Te gustó la pelicula anoche? ¡Sí, me encantó, pero los zombies me asustaron!

  Did you like the movie?

• ¿De niño, te aburrían las clases? No, me fascinaban.

  ¿De niño, te aburrían las clases? No, me fascinaban.

  When you were young, did classes bore you?

Remember they key words used to when using imperfect:

Los cocodriolos me asustaban pero ahora me interesan. (They used to scare me)