Gustar

[fglorca]

Are these sentences correct:

I like water and bread:
Me gustan el agua y el pan.

I like drinking and eating:
Me gusta beber y comer.

I like drinking water and eating bread:
Me gusta beber agua y comer pan.

Many thanks in advance.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by fglorca

Are these sentences correct:

I like water and bread:
Me gustan el agua y el pan.

Correct.

Originally Posted by fglorca

I like drinking and eating:
Me gusta beber y comer.

If you view "beber y comer" as a singular event, then what you wrote is okay. But it would be more usual to view "eating" and "drinking" as distinct events, and you would need to write "me gustan beber y comer".

AdA disagrees, and I found support for her position: your version is correct.

Originally Posted by fglorca

I like drinking water and eating bread:
Me gusta beber agua y comer pan.

Many thanks in advance.

The same is true here: if you view "beber agua y comer pan" as a singular event, what you wrote is fine. But compared to the previous case it would be even more usual to view "beber agua" and "comer pan" as distinct events, and you would need to write "me gustan beber agua y comer pan".

AdA disagrees, and I found support for her position: your version is correct.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Wrholt: I think you are right in principle, but I will slightly disagree on usage: when there is an infinitive, we always conjugate the verb in singular. For some reason it doesn't sound good for me "me gustan tomar vino y oler las flores", even if both actions are not related at all and should be considered events apart.

- Me gusta leer el periódico y tomar café.
- Me gusta cocinar pollo y freír papas.
...

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Wrholt: I think you are right in principle, but I will slightly disagree on usage:
...

Interesting! I went hunting to see what I could find to corroborate what you say, and I found this lesson about gustar, which supports what you say. I love discovering usage bits like this; I don't recall ever learning this particular bit before.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Interesting lesson (despite the spelling mistake on "sepillar"), thanks for sharing the link. =)

It would certainly be more logical to use "gustan" when there are two actions, but I think the conjugation with singular form is more related to the fact that the infinitive has a tacit subject (the same as the indirect object) than to the use of infinitive as a noun.