EPISODE TITLE: Crash Course: Ser Vs. Estar
Hola y bienvenidos hello & welcome to ESPERANZA. Today, we’re going to be focusing on Spanish
grammar with a lesson on the Spanish verbs: ser and estar!
Whole books have been written about these two words alone. They can be tricky because they’re
both irregular verbs, they both mean “to be”, and you have to remember when to use which one!
But not to worry because today I’m going to guide you through it with a crash course that’ll make it
easy.
Before we get into the Spanish ser and estar, I’m going to teach you the concept in English first
because that’ll make it easier for you guys later.
Even in English, “to be” can mean a number of different things and comes in many different forms-When we conjugate “to be” in English we get:
I am, you are, he/she is, we are, you-all are, they are
And we use “to be” to describe how things are, which is the condition of something, and what
something is, which is the essence of something.
For example,
The sentence:
The apple is green.
(Meaning the apple is not ripe.)
Here, we’re talking about the condition of the apple. The apple is green because it isn’t ripe yet.
But, the sentence:
The apple is green. could also mean
(Meaning the color of the apple is green.)
Here, we’re talking about the essential characteristics of the apple—the apple’s color is green.
In Spanish, it’s the same concept, but we just use a different verb—either ser or estar—for “to be”
depending on whether we’re referring to the condition or the essence of something.
So we’re going to tackle the fundamentals of ser and estar in just 2 easy steps:
Step 1: Decide which verb to use.
When talking about the condition of something, or how something is, use estar. To address an
essential quality of something, or what something is, use ser.
Step 2: Conjugate the verb
Both ser and estar are irregular verbs, which means you must memorize the conjugations. Don’t
worry, it’s only 12 words in total—I know you can do it!
Here are all the conjugations:
estar
Yo estoy
Tu estás
El/Ella está
Nosotros estamos
Vosotros estáis
Ellos están
Ser
Yo soy
Tu eres
El/Ella es
Nosotros somos
Vosotros sois
Ellos son
To illustrate these two steps, we’ll bring back the same example we used in English from before.
When we’re saying “The apple is green” and we’re referring to the condition of it (the fact that it is not
ripe yet) we say
La manzana está verde.
The apple is green. (condition)
La manzana es verde.
The apple is green. (essence)
So that’s the fundamental difference between ser and estar.
Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you can move on to learn the other uses for ser and estar.
Ser uses:
the hour, day, and date
place of origin,
occupation,
nationality,
religious or political affiliation,
the material something is made of,
possession,
relationship of one person to another,
certain impersonal expressions
and where an event is taking place
Examples:
What time is it?
¿Qué hora es?
I'm from Panama
Soy de Panamá
I'm a journalist
Soy periodista
She is Puerto Rican
Ella es puertorriqueña
They are catholic
Son católicos
It is plastic
Es plástico
It is mine
Es mio
He is my brother
él es mi hermano
It's important to practice every day.
Es importante practicar cada día.
The party is in the club
La fiesta es en el club
Estar Uses:
geographic or physical location
state or condition
many idiomatic expressions
progressive tenses
Examples:
Where's Venezuela?
¿Dónde está Venezuela?
The room is cold.
El cuarto está fría.
to be in agreement
estar de acuerdo
What are you eating?
¿Qué estás comiendo?
Sources:
Studyspanish.com