Comer manzanas (was: Italian Particles)

Sally Caves <scaves@...> wrote:

>> How about something like Spanish "Me gusta comer manzanas"?  Where "comer
>> manzanas" is the subject of the verb _gustar_.
...
>I thought this construction was simply dative with impersonal: "(it)
>pleases me to eat manzanas."
If it were impersonal, there would be no verb agreement:


    Me gusta comer manzanas.
    Me gusta la manzana.

BUT
    Me gustan las manzanas.

There must be something else to it. All verbs in this semantic
field behave the same ([dis]gustar, [des]agradar, aburrir ['to bore'],
divertir ['to amuse'], etc.).

As for what Nik says, that *"Comer manzanas me gusta" is what one
would expect: yes, it is, and the asterisk is not needed, since the
construction does occur -- if in neutral tone, it emphasizes the last
verb action (the liking).

Needless to say, thanks to this, the English verb "to like" is one
of the most difficult things to teach to a native Spanish speaker.



--Pablo Flores
  http://www.geocities.com/pablo-david/index.html
  ... I cannot combine any characters that the divine Library
  has not foreseen, which in some of its secret tongues do not
  bear some terrible meaning. No-one can articulate a syllable
  not filled of caresses and fears; which is not, in some one
  of those languages, the powerful name of a god...
                   Jorge Luis Borges, _The Library of Babel_