VERBS WITH A TWIST

BACKWARDS VERBS

• encantar to be enchanting to(to love)

• interesar to be interesting to(to be interested in)

• aburrir to be boring to(to be bored by)

• gustar to be pleasing to(to like)

• doler (o-ue) to cause pain to(to hurt)

•These verbs form regular stems and use regular endings.

•So…what’s so special about them?

•When we use them, we change the word order.

•With these verbs the subjects come AFTER the verb. ?!?!?!

•Watch…..

•Suppose I want to say that I like tacos…

•I would use the verb “gustar”, which means “to be pleasing to”.

•What I will actually be saying is that tacos are pleasing to me.

so…..

1. I would write my subject as the last word in my phrase.

2. I would conjugate my verb to match the subject, tacos.

3. That would be “gustan”.

gustan tacos.

•I still need a word to show that the tacos are pleasing to me.

•I need a new pronoun—me.•This pronoun goes BEFORE

the verb.

Me gustan tacos.

Me gustan tacos.

•But who actually says “to me are pleasing tacos”?

•Remember, we can’t always translate word for word.

Me gustan tacos.

We say “I like tacos”.

But wait, there’s more…

•Usually, with these particular verbs, we only talk about things.

•Therefore, we’ll probably only use third person singular and plural.

(What a relief!)

Remember subject-verb agreement

• Me gustan tacos. = I like tacos.• Me gusta el español. = I like Spanish.

• Me interesan los deportes. = I am interested in sports.

• Me interesa el arte. = I am interested in art.

• Me aburren los partidos. = I am bored by games.

• Me aburre el programa. = I am bored by the program.

Just one more thing…New pronouns for THESE VERBS

ONLY

me = * Ite = * youle = * he, she, you formalnos = * weles = * they

*not their real meanings

The pronouns DON’T change the verbs for these verbs ONLY.

• Me gustan tacos. or…• Te gustan tacos.

• Me interesa el arte. or…• Nos interesa el arte.

• Me aburre el programa. or…• Le aburre el programa.

It’s really not that hard, so don’t panic.

Remember, practice makes perfect.

La práctica hace maestro al novicio.