English Translation
It made me want to puke.
I’m wondering about the plural dieron, is that because ganas is in the plural? In other words, what’s the subject, implicit (they) or ganas de vomitar?
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The object is ‘ganas’. The alternative makes no sense (las ganas me dan… qué?). An explicit subject makes it obvious, ‘el tomate me dio ganas de vomitar’ or ‘los tomates me dieron ganas de vomitar’.
But then it’s curious that we say ‘me dio un dolor de cabeza’ and not ‘me dieron un dolor de cabeza’ when otherwise it’s an identical construction (‘el problema me dio dolor de cabeza’ or ‘los problemas me dieron dolor de cabeza’). The only possible source of this irregular number agreement is the object.
(We may also say ‘me dio gana de vomitar’ and not *‘me dieron gana de vomitar’.)
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Thanks for the explanation! My only remaining doubt is whether “Me dio ganas de vomitar” (no explicit subject) is also correct. Would one say that when referring to something already mentioned, like a rotten tomato?
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Yes, in that case, I’d expect there’s a singular subject somewhere.
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