The pattern of gustar
You already know gustar: Me gusta el café literally means “the coffee is pleasing to me”. Many more verbs are built the same way, the verbos de afección: the thing is the subject, and the person is an indirect object pronoun in front of the verb.
English has a few leftovers of this pattern (my head hurts, two chairs are missing), but for most of these verbs English makes the person the subject: I love, I am interested in, I have two days left. In Spanish, the person is never the subject.
The verbs you need most
encantar, interesar - likes
encantar is gustar turned up to maximum (“to love”). It needs no muy: Me encanta alone is enough. With interesar, English offers both I am interested in history and history interests me, but Spanish has only the second pattern.
Me encanta el cine español.
I love Spanish cinema.
Nos encantan las playas del sur.
We love the beaches in the south.
¿Os interesan los idiomas?
Are you all interested in languages?
doler - to hurt
Like English my head hurts, the body part is the subject. The one change is the possessive: Spanish takes the definite article, because the pronoun already shows whose body it is. Me duele la cabeza, not Me duele mi cabeza.
Me duele la garganta.
My throat hurts.
Le duelen los pies.
His feet hurt.
faltar, quedar - missing and left
faltar means “to be missing”, quedar “to be left”. English says I have two days left with have; Spanish has no verb of possession here, the days are the subject. Do not confuse this with quedar = to arrange to meet: Quedamos a las ocho.
Me falta un ingrediente.
I am missing one ingredient.
¿Te queda dinero?
Do you have any money left?
Me quedan tres días de vacaciones.
I have three days of holiday left.
parecer, molestar, importar, apetecer - opinion and wishes
parecer gives an opinion, molestar is what bothers you, importar what matters or what you mind, apetecer what you feel like doing.
Me parece buena idea.
I think that is a good idea.
Nos molesta el ruido.
The noise bothers us.
No me importa esperar.
I do not mind waiting.
¿Te apetece un café?
Do you feel like a coffee?
Like gustar - a + person
You can put a mí, a ti, a Juan in front of the pronoun to contrast opinions (where English stresses a word with your voice) or to show who is meant by le / les. The pronoun stays: A Juan le interesa el jazz, not A Juan interesa el jazz.
A mí me encanta, pero a él no le interesa nada.
I love it, but he is not interested at all.
A María le duele la espalda.
María's back hurts.
