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But couldn't it be (like in English) that if we ask "You don't like rice?" it means rice in general, but if we ask "You don't like the rice?" we're talking about the rice that the person has just tried?
The meanings are a bit different but as best I can tell the same Spanish is used for both English translations.
That is the impression I got as well. And it doesn't matter that the statement could be taken either way as the converstation is about some specifice rice which is being being referred to or rice in general. It's one or the other.
It seems to be the norm that an article will usually come after "gustar" if it is a "noun" that is being liked/disliked. I do not know why.
This is somewhat like French, if you like something, you like all of it, not just this rice but THE rice. Therefore you use the definitive article, instead of the indefinite or the partitive.
Can anyone explain to me the difference between the gusta and gustan? In another sentence before it was Te gustan los caballos? Or has it to do with the denial?
If what a person likes(present tense) is plural(los caballos) use "gustan" if it is singular(el caballo) use "gusta".
"Te gustan los caballos" literally translates to "the horses please you". This is an example of a reflexive verb. So when you conjugate the verb you need to remember that the noun performing the action is "the horses" and the action is "pleasing something/someone".
"gustan is a conjugation of the infinitive verb, " gustar," which means, like , taste , please , suit , love , interest , appeal , appeal to .
"I like" is: Yo gusto.
"They like" is: Ellos gustan.
And so forth.
Aha--I see from other discussions that "te gusta" in this context means "pleasing to you" rather than "you like" per se; the question is really asking "Is rice not pleasing to you?" So it uses the indirect object form "te" rather than the subject form "tú". (http://studyspanish.com/lessons/gustar.htm)
The verb "Gustar" needs an object pronoun to know who it applies to. "te" is refering to "tú".
isn't it gustaS? no te gustas el arroz? because i am asking YOU, and present of verb gustar for "you" is gustas? thanks :)
It's not gusta, it's gusta (singular) or gustan (plural) because the thing performing the action (el arroz in your example) comes after the verb here, gustar is not actually to like, it is to please, therefore "Te gusta el arroz?" is "Does the rice please you?" It would only be gustas if something liked you, or rather you pleased something, as in "Me gustas tu" <-tu should have accent. That's "you please me".
Gustar means: like , taste , please , suit , love , interest , appeal , appeal to
