Spanish B1.10 Listening Practice: Pleasing-To Verbs
Listen to a B1 Spanish dialogue about pleasing-to verbs, with audio, transcript, and grammar notes for language learning.
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Level
B1.10
Audio
Segmented audio
Transcript
23 segments
A short Spanish listening chapter with transcript.
Unit 5: add gustar-style verbs to what you already control, then say one short answer that reuses earlier Spanish instead of starting from a memorized phrase.
Read while you listen.
1. Carmen · Teacher
Welcome to today's Spanish podcast! I'm Carmen, and today we're exploring 'pleasing-to' verbs like 'me gusta', 'me interesa', and 'me encanta'.
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2. Diego · Student
Hi everyone, I'm Diego! I always get a bit confused about how these verbs flip the sentence structure around.
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3. Carmen · Teacher
Don't worry, Diego! Let me introduce our native speakers, Álvaro and Lucía. Let's listen to their conversation first.
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4. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
¡Hola, Lucía! Me encanta pasear por el centro histórico los fines de semana.
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5. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
¡A mí también! Además, me interesa mucho la arquitectura tradicional de Madrid.
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6. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
¿Verdad? Me fascina cómo se conservan los edificios antiguos.
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7. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
Sí, me gusta descubrir plazas tranquilas para leer un buen libro.
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8. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
¡Qué gran idea! Realmente me interesa este tema de la vida cultural en la ciudad.
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9. Carmen · Teacher
Let's break that down! First, Álvaro said: '¡Hola, Lucía! Me encanta pasear por el centro histórico los fines de semana.' This means 'I love walking through the historic center on weekends.' Here, 'me encanta' takes an infinitive verb, 'pasear'.
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10. Diego · Student
Why is 'encanta' singular even though he mentions ' weekends' in plural?
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11. Carmen · Teacher
Great question! The real subject of 'me encanta' is the single action 'pasear', walking. The plural ' los fines de semana' is just time information.
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12. Carmen · Teacher
Next, Lucía replied: '¡A mí también! Además, me interesa mucho la arquitectura tradicional de Madrid.' She means 'Me too! Besides, traditional Madrid architecture interests me a lot.'
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13. Diego · Student
Why does she start with 'A mí también' instead of just 'también'?
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14. Carmen · Teacher
With gustar-style verbs, 'me' represents 'to me'. So to say 'me too', you add the preposition 'a' for emphasis: 'A mí también'.
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15. Carmen · Teacher
Then Álvaro said: '¿Verdad? Me fascina cómo se conservan los edificios antiguos.' That means 'Right? It fascinates me how the old buildings are preserved.'
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16. Diego · Student
Does 'fascinar' follow the exact same grammar rules as 'gustar' and 'interesar'?
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17. Carmen · Teacher
Exactly. 'Me fascina' works identically: the thing or clause that fascinates you acts as the grammatical subject.
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18. Carmen · Teacher
In the fourth line, Lucía said: 'Sí, me gusta descubrir plazas tranquilas para leer un buen libro.' Meaning 'Yes, I like discovering quiet squares to read a good book.'
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19. Diego · Student
If she were talking directly about the squares without the verb 'descubrir', would it be 'me gustan'?
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20. Carmen · Teacher
Yes! Plural noun subjects take 'me gustan', like 'me gustan las plazas', but singular infinitive actions like 'descubrir' keep it singular: 'me gusta descubrir'.
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21. Carmen · Teacher
Finally, Álvaro concluded with: '¡Qué gran idea! Realmente me interesa este tema de la vida cultural en la ciudad.' Meaning 'What a great idea! I'm really interested in this topic of city cultural life.'
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22. Diego · Student
In 'Me interesa este tema', is 'este tema' the subject that is causing the interest?
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23. Carmen · Teacher
Spot on, Diego! Literally, 'this topic interests me.' Keep practicing these structures whenever you share your preferences in Spanish!
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