SS: Gustar y Encantar, Using Emotions with the Subjunctive, Highest Capital City in the World
How to Make Sense of Gustar and Encantar, How to Express Emotion with the Subjunctive Tense, The Highest Altitude Capital City in the World...
SPANISH SUNDAYS
Novato (Beginner)
Gustar & Encantar - Why Are They So Confusing?
Many beginners struggle with gustar and encantar because they don’t work like normal verbs in English. Instead of saying “I like something,” in Spanish, you say, “Something is pleasing to me.”
The verb is conjugated based on the thing being liked, not the person liking it. This sounds confusing but some examples will help clear this up…
Gustar = To like
Me gusta el chocolate.
Chocolate is pleasing to me / I like chocolate.
Me gustan los perros.
Dogs are pleasing to me / I like dogs.
Encantar = To love (something, *not a person)
Me encanta esta canción.
This song is delightful to me / I love this song.
Me encantan las montañas.
The mountains are delightful to me / I love the mountains.
Notice how gusta/encanta is used for singular things, and gustan/encantan is used for plural things. That’s because the subject of the sentence is what’s being liked!
If you want to say someone else likes something, just change the indirect object pronoun:
Le gusta el fútbol → He/She likes football.
Nos encantan las películas de acción → We love action movies.
Les gusta viajar → They/you (plural) like to travel.
Avanzado (Advanced)
The Subjunctive with Emotion
In Spanish, when expressing emotions, desires, or opinions about something, we often use the subjunctive.
The structure is usually:
[Emotion verb] + que + [subjunctive verb]
For example:
Me alegra que tengas buenas noticias
I’m happy that you have good news
Me molesta que hagan tanto ruido
It bothers me that they make so much noise
Nos encanta que puedas venir a la fiesta
We love that you can come to the party.
If there’s no subject change, just use the infinitive instead:
Me alegra tener buenas noticias → I’m happy to have good news.
Nos encanta viajar → We love to travel.
The subjunctive is a tricky concept, but this is one of the most common ways it’s used, so mastering this pattern will make you sound more natural!
If you want more help with the subjunctive, I have created a course with 20+ videos breaking it down into all its stages to help you master it in 2025!
Around the Hispanic World
The highest capital city in the world
La Paz, Bolivia, is the highest capital city in the world. It sits at an altitude of 3,640 meters (11,942 feet) above sea level!
Because of the high altitude, visitors often experience altitude sickness, known as soroche in Spanish. Locals recommend drinking mate de coca, a tea made from coca leaves, to help with the symptoms. I had this in Peru in the Andes Mountains, and it helped me avoid soroche.