"Eles gostam de você."

Translation: They like you.

[JustinaSade]

I dont quite understand the de in this sentence.

[markysan92]

The lessons skip around a bit, but Gostar means "to like" and if you are targeting a noun, like "I like water" you have to add "de", so you get "Eu gosto de agua".

[WeekzGod]

Is it like the spanish personal pronoun 'a'?

[kevin.nila]

no. it's just that verbs like gostar (to like) and precisar (to need) require the preposition "de" before the direct object, but the verb precisar doesn't require "de" before actions.

• eu gosto de sorvete (I like ice cream)
• eu gosto de comer (I like to eat)
• eu preciso de dinheiro (I need money)
• eu preciso comer (I need to eat)

[LornaRodri]

No, it is like the proposition "de" in Spanish. I would translate to Spanish like: "ellos se gustan de ti"

[pauletteann]

In Spanish the correct translation would be:
Tú le gustas a ellos.

[SaraOlateGodfrey]

Tu les gustas a ellos

[TommyOl]

It's like in "be afraid of" in english DE means that OF "Eu gosto de você" it means literally "I like of you". another exemple is "Eu tenho medo de cachorros" which means "I'm afraid OF dog" the difference is that in portuguese many verbs which are linked with the noun will need the particle DE. or Em like "Eu bato EM você" "I hit you"

[LEON_PETO]

isso é semelhante à palavra "fond"? "I am fond of you"?

[PERCE_NEIGE]

Sim. Fond of you looks like.

[erudis]

The verb gostar requires an indirect object.

[JustinaSade]

Still so much to learn!

[PERCE_NEIGE]

Because "de" is always after the verb "gostar", it's the way it's always. We have only to remember "gostar de"... instead of "gostar" alone.

[Camaleonis]

yeah, well... thats kinda hard to explain... In portuguese you can't just say "they like you" that would be like "elas/eles gostam você". you have to connect the word or it won't have any sense... do you get?

[jquellin]

is the "de" pronounce "jey"? or am i trippin?

[alguemmisterioso]

Yes, in some varieties of Brazilian Portuguese —including those of Rio and São Paulo and most of Southern Brazil— this is the pronunciation of the letter D followed by a high front vowel (normally I, but also E when it falls in unaccented places). The letter T does the same thing (but goes to an English CH sound). We do this in English too, but unconsciously, when a Y sound follows a D: "Did you…" sounds "Dijoo..."

Other dialects like European and African Portugueses, as well as those of North(eastern) Brazil and Recife pronounce it without palatization (the name for that sound change).

[EwaB74]

Is it normal that I hear "dje" while she sais "de"? I'm so new to the language and i miss a lot some introduction to pronunciation...

[Neia.Abreu]

Like = Gostar + "DE" "é regência verbal"
Eu gosto de você, Ela gosta DO (de + o) rapaz, Nós gostamos DA (de+a) sua cidade.= We like your city. NEED= Precisar + DE
Eu preciso DE você, Nós precisamos DE comida , Ela precisa DE água, O marido precisa DA (=de +a) esposa dele = The husband needs his wife.

[JuanEsteban22]

they enjoy you would also work....wouldn't it?

[kemisage]

It should but more likely in a sexual context.

[EionSparks]

"Gostam" sounds like "gosta".

[PERCE_NEIGE]

Almost, because the final "m" is used there to nasalize the "a".

[Rewm]

not exactly, listen to the slow version. It's pronounced as if it were gostão

More here:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Portuguese_verbs