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Ser and Estar Explanation
Ser and Estar Explanation
Ser and Estar Explanation
Unlike English, Spanish has two forms of the verb "to be".
The two forms of "to be" in Spanish are Ser and Estar.
I'll explain when to use each one in a moment, but first let's see what they
look like. Here's how to say "I am...", "you are...", "they are..." etc, using
both ser and estar.
I am yo soy yo estoy
You'll use words from the "ser" column when you're talking about
permanent states or characteristics.
Our girl María is smart. Not just today, but all the time. So we use ser,
because we're talking about a permanent characteristic.
But when I'm talking about my friend who is in the hot air balloon (a
distinctly non-permanent situation) I would use estar instead.
When to use "estar"
Estar (and its various forms) is used when talking about something that is
a non-permanent state or location.
In particular, you would always use estar when you're talking about
someone being at a particular location — since people can and do move
around!
Mi amigo es en la oficina
Nope. This loosely translates to "my friend exists at the office" which is a
weird thing to say.
A good way to see the difference is to pay another visit to Maria:
María es bonita
Maria is pretty
María está bonita
Maria looks pretty today / at this particular moment
If you use ser, then Maria is a pretty girl in general. If you use estar, it
might be because she's dressed up for a party. One is a permanent
characteristic, and the other is a temporary state.