Let’s be honest – sometimes things are not perfect. You will love and you will hate different things because everyone has different perspectives. Expressing dislike in Spanish is not difficult at all. What if you want to complain or if you want to express that you don’t like something in a more precise way than just the classic “no me gusta?” What if you want other words for expressing disgust or dislike? If you want to sound a little more natural in your conversations with your Latino friends, get comfortable and read this article.
I’m a little intense with how much I love Spanish, but I do love it. With this language, you can express your feelings – the good ones and the bad ones. But before we continue, let me explain to you how the idea of this article came to mind: one day during a class, we were practicing the verb gustar, talking about fruits. I did an exercise, an experiment I love to do with my students, about tasting different kinds of fruits (let me tell you, Colombia has an amazing variety of fruits!) and stating an opinion about the flavors using the verb gustar. One of those days, a German student asked me: “Is there another expression apart from ‘no me gusta?’” It’s not a common question, but I loved it because it made me think about a bunch of expressions we have for that. Since I know he is not the only curious one, I decided to write this article and show you the following expressions:
Detesto: This comes from the verb “detestar” and it is a little bit of a strong expression with a literal translation of “detest.” This works when you want to be emphatic about something you kind of hate. It works for people, food, movies – I mean everything.
No soporto: “I can’t stand.” This expression works for people when you don’t get along with them, like that person you prefer not to see. This expression doesn’t work with things or objects.
Odio: “I hate”. The strongest expression for expressing disgust. This works for everything you could possibly hate, for example about a restaurant or an annoying thing.
Me fastidia / Me fastidian: “It bothers me / They bother me.” The difference between these expressions is basically singular vs. plural. For example, if you want to express “the weather bothers me,” you say “me fastidia el clima.” But if you are talking about a plural subject, for example “my coworkers bother me,” you will need to say “mis compañeras me fastidian.” This expression is also useful when you want to speak about a situation, not only a thing or person.
Audio to practice
You can now practice expressing dislike in Spanish!
For other related topic, check our article Expressing Possession in Spanish: How Many Uses “Su” Has?.
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Written by Andrea, profesora at Whee.
