In Spanish we say “(a María) le gusta el libro.” The literal meaning is that “the book pleases / is pleasing to Mary.” Technically, Mary is the indirect object (complemento indirecto), and the book is the subject. The preposition “a” is necessary to show that María is the indirect object. (In most cases, the preposition would also be required if María were the direct object.) Note that “le” and “a ella” are synonymous, both referring to María. We must use “le” (complemento indirecto átono) however “a ella” is only needed for emphasis. In the plural, we could say “(a María) le gustan los libros.” “Mary likes books.” Note that the verb is in the plural (-n), since the subject “libros” is plural. Even though María is technically the object, we usually start the sentence by mentioning the person, since in reality, we are more concerned with the person. (It’s also possible to reverse the order “Los libros le gustan (a María).” Actually, the word order is very free, as long as “le gustan” goes together as one unit. In Spanish, a verb in the infinitive can generally be used like a noun (in English, we would use either the infinitive or the -ing gerund form, depending), so “le gusta la lectura” and “le gusta leer” can be more or less synonymous (depending on context). Other verbs that function like this include: agradar, interesar, aburrir, molestar, importar, encantar, fascinar, costar, volver loco/a, etc.

Hi! 1) "Ella no gusta comer en los restaurantes" is an incomplete sentence. One way to fix it is using the preposition "a", which in this case indicates the person that is "receiving" the action "gustar"; so, to indicate who "no LE gusta comer en los restaurantes" you can use the preposition "a": "A ella no LE gusta comer en los restaurantes". You also need "le" to indicate what action is occuring (I think "le" is a indirect object pronoun but not 100% sure, sorry). The patter is: "A [sujeto] le [acción]" = [sujeto] "received" the [acción]. Some other examples: - A José le gusta caminar (José likes to walk) - A José le pegaron en el estómago (José was punched in the stomach) - A José le robaron la cartera (not literally but means that José was robbed and he lost his wallet) - A José le tomaron una foto (not literally but means that someone took José a picture) NOTE: Now that I'm writing this I realized that you actually CAN ommit "a" BUT it will give a different meaning. If you delete "a" then the person is doing the action instead of taking it. Some examples: - José le gusta caminar = wrong sentence - José le pegó en el estómago = José punched the stomach of someone else (you can't ommit "le", sounds weird) - José le robó la cartera = José stole the wallet of someone (you can ommit "le" if the context is clear) - José le tomó una foto = José took a picture of someone or something (you can ommit "le" if the context is clear) 2) "Gustar" is "to like" in English. As you mention it can be used to say that you like to DO something, or simply that you like something. Examples: - A José le gusta cantar = José likes to sing - A José le gusta la música = José likes music - A José le gustan las manzanas = José likes apples - A José le gusta ir al parque = José likes going to the park / José likes to go to the park Another verb that you might see is "encantar", which is stronger than "gustar. - A José le encanta el café = José loves coffee Hope it helps :)

In Spanish it is necessary to that letter, in English alone could put Maria, but in Spanish have to put Maria. Example in english : Mary likes to eat chocolates. Example in spanish: A Maria le gusta comer chocolates. in spanish the letter A before the name refers to it.