Spanish Language and Culture 10-3Y


5.1 Expressing Likes and Dislikes with Emphasis

Take a few minutes to review how we use and conjugate gustar. (click the red "review" link)

Now let's add something else to help us express our likes and dislikes with more emotion.

The following words are commonly used in Spanish to emphasize personal preferences. Some of them you may already know.

mucho 
mucho
a lot
muchísimo 
muchísimo
a lot more, a great amount
poco 
poco
a little
nada 
nada
nothing

Let's look at the examples to see how these four words can really change the meaning of what you are saying.

Notice the word order - it matters. ;)

Likes


  1. Me gusta la camiseta. 
      → You are simply saying you like the t-shirt.

  2. Me gusta un poco la camiseta. 
      → You are saying that you like the t-shirt a little.

  3. Me gusta mucho la camiseta. 
      → You are saying you like the t-shirt a lot!

  4. ¡Me gusta muchísimo la camiseta! 
      → You are saying you really, really like the t-shirt a lot!

Dislikes


Remember, unlike English, in Spanish we use double negatives. So whenever you use nada with gustar, you need to put No at the beginning of your sentence.

  1. No me gusta la camiseta. 
      → I don't like the t-shirt.

  2. No me gusta nada la camiseta. 
      → I don't like the t-shirt at all.

  3. No me gusta nada. 
      → I don't like it at all.

  4. No te gusta nada. 
      → You don't like it at all.

  5. No le gusta nada. 
      → He doesn't like it at all.

Self-Check Quiz


 Click Next to check if you can make sentences properly with these
new emphatic expressions.