Gostar de
Gostar de means “"To like" is gostar DE — the preposition is obligatory”. Unlike English "like" and Spanish gustar, Portuguese gostar always takes de before its object: Eu gosto de café, not "eu gosto café". Formation: gostar + de + substantivo / infinitivo — de+o=do, de+a=da
"To like" is gostar DE — the preposition is obligatory
A2Formation
gostar + de + substantivo / infinitivo — de+o=do, de+a=da
Explanation
Unlike English "like" and Spanish gustar, Portuguese gostar always takes de before its object: Eu gosto de café, not "eu gosto café". Remember that de contracts with a following article, so it very often surfaces as do or da: gosto do meu trabalho, gosto da minha irmã. The structure is a relief for English speakers compared with Spanish, because the subject stays where you expect it: in Spanish me gusta el café literally means "coffee pleases me" and the grammatical subject is the coffee, whereas Portuguese eu gosto de café keeps eu as the subject, exactly like English.
Examples
Note
Other very common verbs that demand de: precisar de (need), lembrar de (remember), gostar de. Before an infinitive, though, precisar often drops it: preciso ir.
FAQ
Gostar de — what does it mean and how is it used?
"To like" is gostar DE — the preposition is obligatory. Unlike English "like" and Spanish gustar, Portuguese gostar always takes de before its object: Eu gosto de café, not "eu gosto café". Remember that de contracts with a following article, so it very often surfaces as do or da: gosto do meu trabalho, gosto da minha irmã. The structure is a relief for English speakers compared with Spanish, because the subject stays where you expect it: in Spanish me gusta el café literally means "coffee pleases me" and the grammatical subject is the coffee, whereas Portuguese eu gosto de café keeps eu as the subject, exactly like English.
Gostar de — how do you form it?
gostar + de + substantivo / infinitivo — de+o=do, de+a=da
Gostar de — any usage notes?
Other very common verbs that demand de: precisar de (need), lembrar de (remember), gostar de. Before an infinitive, though, precisar often drops it: preciso ir.