For sure there are many things you're great at, but - let's accept it! - there are also things you are terrible at. Last week we So we also need to talk about the things that are hard to do for us. We can do that in Spanish, thanks to verb costar.
Of course, costar also means to cost, that is, we use to ask how much something is, or simply to talk about prices and money in Spanish.... But, costar also means "to have difficulty with something". It is a very that we use frequently to talk about all those things we find difficult, and, careful, it has a special structure, very much like gustar and similar verbs. This means that the subject goes at the end of the sentence and it has to be linked to the verb and the pronoun (me, te, le...) need to change, depending on the person (if it's me, she, we..). For example:
A mí me cuesta el español VS A mí me cuestan las matemáticas
A él le cuesta el español VS A él le cuestan las matemáticas
But don't frighten! Take a look at this explanation. It's a piece of cake!
(A mí) me cuesta hablar en público
(A ti) te cuesta hablar en público
(A él / a ella / a usted) le cuesta hablar en público
(A nosotros) nos cuesta hablar en público
(A vosotros) os cuesta hablar en público
(A ellos / a ellas / a ustedes) les cuesta hablar en público
Don't forget that we use a mí, a ti, a ella..., to mark a contrast between two or more people, or when we want to emphasize the subject, but not in the rest of the cases. And, if you are interested, don't hesitate to check out our previous entrance on expressing skills in Spanish (se me da bien / se me da mal), which you can use to talk about your good skills!
Now, try to complete this exercise! Just fill in the blanks with the necessary forms! Good luck!
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