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gustar vs encantar

Both flip the sentence around compared to English, and encantar has one extra rule that learners break constantly.

gustar

liking, any strength

  • Me gusta el café.
  • Me gustan los perros.
  • No me gusta nada.
  • ¿Te gusta bailar?
  • A ella le gusta mucho.

encantar

loving it, already at full strength

  • Me encanta el café.
  • Me encantan los perros.
  • Nos encanta esta ciudad.
  • ¿Te encanta bailar?
  • A él le encanta viajar.

Quick answer

gustar = to be pleasing; covers like, from mild to strong.
encantar = to delight; already means "love it", so it takes no mucho.

In both, the thing liked is the subject: me gustan los libros, not yo gusto.

Side by side

Me gusta tu casa. / Me encanta tu casa.I like your house versus I love your house — same structure, different intensity.
Me gustan las películas francesas.The verb agrees with películas, not with me — plural thing, plural verb.
A mí me encanta, pero a él no le gusta.The a mí / a él part is only for emphasis or contrast; the me and le are obligatory.

Memory trick

Ask what is doing the pleasing. That thing is the subject and sets the verb ending; you only appear as me, te, le, nos, les.

Typical mistakes

Me encanta mucho este libro.

Me encanta este libro.

Encantar already contains the intensity, so mucho is redundant and sounds wrong. Use muchísimo with gustar instead.

Yo gusto el chocolate.

Me gusta el chocolate.

The chocolate is the subject, not you. Saying <i>yo gusto</i> means "I am pleasing to others".

Check yourself

Fill in: "A nosotros nos ___ los conciertos al aire libre."

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