Preferences and Changing Patterns

Hey there, future Spanish speaker! Ready to make your Spanish even more exciting? This chapter is super fun because we're going to learn how to express what we like and what we want. Don't worry, it might sound tricky, but it's actually quite easy. Here, you'll meet two cool groups of verbs that change a little bit. For example, verbs like querer (to want) and preferir (to prefer) will have their e in the middle suddenly turn into ie—but heads up, this change doesn't happen for we and you all. Then there are verbs like poder (to be able to) and dormir (to sleep) where the o in the middle changes to ue, again, with we and you all being the exceptions. After that, we'll dive into Me gusta, which has a completely different logic! In Spanish, the thing you like is the subject of the sentence, and the verb gustar agrees with it. So if you like pizza, you're essentially saying, Pizza pleases me (Me gusta la pizza)—isn't that neat? By the end of this chapter, you'll easily be able to say what food you like, what music you prefer, or even ask a friend what they want. You'll be able to say things like

I want to drink coffee

I can help you.

• スペイン語の「ブーツ」動詞：e→ieの語幹変化 (querer, preferir)

  「私たち」と「あなたたち（スペイン）」以外の形では、動詞の「e」を「ie」に変えるんだよ。「e→ie」と「ブーツ動詞」を覚えてね。
• 語幹変化動詞: o → ue (poder, dormir)

  現在形では、動詞の語幹の「o」を「ue」に変えるよ。でも、「私たち（nosotros）」と「あなたたち（vosotros）」の形は変えないでね。
• スペイン語で「好き」を伝える (Me gusta/gustan)

  スペイン語では、「好き」の考え方がちょっと違うんだ。「Me gusta」は『私を喜ばせる』ってイメージだよ。この「Me gusta」と「Me gustan」を使いこなそう！
• Gustarで「好き」を表現する (Me gusta)

  スペイン語では、「gustar」を使って「〜が私を喜ばせる」という感じで好きを表現するよ。動詞は好きなものに合わせて「gusta」か「gustan」になるんだ。