gustatzen zait

Liking (Gustatzen Zait)

Level 1

Kafea gustatzen zait. (I like coffee.) Liburuak gustatzen zaizkit. (I like books.) Gustatzen zaizu? (Do you like it?)

How It Works

The forms

  • (niri) zait, with a plural thing zaizkit: I like
  • (zuri) zaizu, zaizkizu: you like
  • (hari) zaio, zaizkio: he or she likes
  • (guri) zaigu, zaizkigu: we like
  • (zuei) zaizue, zaizkizue: you all like
  • (haiei) zaie, zaizkie: they like

See zait, zaizu, zaio and zaizkit.

Who likes it
The pronoun is often left out, because the auxiliary already shows the person. Use it for contrast: Niri kafea gustatzen zait, baina Aneri tea gustatzen zaio. (I like coffee, but Ane likes tea.)

Liking to do something
Use the verbal noun in -tzea. It counts as one thing, so the auxiliary is singular: Irakurtzea gustatzen zait. (I like reading.)

Negatives and other tenses
ez joins the auxiliary and moves in front: Ez zait gustatzen. (I don’t like it.) The same pattern works in other tenses: Filma gustatu zaigu. (We liked the film.) Gustatuko zaizu. (You will like it.)

Other verbs follow this pattern too; see More Verbs Like gustatzen zait.

Examples (6)

  1. Kafea gustatzen zait.

    I like coffee.

    Word by Word: coffee-the pleasing is-to-me

    The coffee is the subject; zait shows that it pleases me.

  2. Liburuak gustatzen zaizkit.

    I like books.

    liburuak is plural, so zait becomes zaizkit.

  3. Gustatzen zaizu?

    Do you like it?

    zaizu shows the person is “you”.

  4. Aneri ez zaio futbola gustatzen.

    Ane doesn’t like football.

    Aneri is the dative of Ane; zaio agrees with her.

  5. Irakurtzea asko gustatzen zait.

    I really like reading.

    The verbal noun irakurtzea takes a singular auxiliary.

  6. Filma gustatu zaigu.

    We liked the film.

    The present perfect is used for today’s film.

Common Mistakes

  • Building the sentence like English “I like”.

    Nik kafea gustatzen dut.
    Niri kafea gustatzen zait.

    With gustatu the person who likes is in the dative (niri), not the ergative (nik), and the auxiliary is zait, not dut.

  • Keeping zait with a plural thing.

    Liburuak gustatzen zait.
    Liburuak gustatzen zaizkit.

    The auxiliary agrees with the liked thing. Liburuak is plural, so use zaizkit.

  • Using the wrong person in the auxiliary.

    Guri kafea gustatzen zait.
    Guri kafea gustatzen zaigu.

    The auxiliary must match the person who likes it. With guri (to us), use zaigu.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

gustatzen zaitLevel 1Liking (Gustatzen Zait)

Learn This First

Liking combines the -tzen form with an unmarked subject.

Words in This Pattern

gustatuizanzuri