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SER and ESTAR
Both verbs mean “to be.” But
before we discuss the difference,
let’s review the conjugations:
ser estar
soy somos estoy estamos
eres sois estás estáis
es son está están
“Ser” has a lot of uses:
1. to show origin: Juan es de Colombia.
2. with a predicate noun: Juan es estudiante.
3. to tell time: Son las dos y media.
4. to show possession: El libro es de Juan.
5. to show intention: El libro es para Juan.
6. to show composition: La silla es de plástico.
7. with an adjective to show characteristic:
Juan es alto.
However, now that you’ve looked at the many uses of “ser”— and there may be more—you should know that the easiest thing to do is decide whether or not “estar” is required. Juan _____ mi amigo. Remember, “estar” has only three uses: progressive, location, adjective/condition. So ask yourself the following about “Juan _____ mi amigo”: Are we using the verb to make the progressive? – No. Are we using the verb to show location? – No. Is there an adjective that shows condition? – No. If you’d answered “yes” to any of those questions, you would use “está” in the blank. But because you answered “no” to all three, you need “es” in the blank.
CHARACTERISTIC:
a quality that you normally associate with a
person/thing
Juan is tall. Juan es alto
Juan is fat. Juan es gordo.
Juan is rich. Juan es rico
Juan is young. Juan es joven.
The door is green. La puerta es verde.
The door is big. La puerta es grande.
The door is ugly. La puerta es fea.
CONDITION:
the state of being of a person/thing
Juan is sick. Juan está enfermo.
Juan is tired. Juan está cansado.
Juan is sad. Juan está triste.
Juan is bored. Juan está aburrido.
Juan is busy. Juan está ocupado.
The door is open. La puerta está abierta.
The door is broken. La puerta está rota.
The door is dirty. La puerta está sucia.
“Is it a characteristic or a condition?” is definitely
the trickiest part of ser/estar. But it’s not the ONLY
part. Remember, there are lots of other times you
need to decide if you need ser or estar. Don’t look
at a sentence like
Juan _______ en clase.
and ask yourself “Is it a characteristic or condition?”
because “en clase” is NOT an adjective. You only
ask yourself the question “characteristic or
condition” IF YOU HAVE AN ADJECTIVE.
Another tricky aspect: do you know what predicate
adjectives are? A predicate adjective is an
adjective that follows the verb and describes the
subject:
Juan is tall.
“Tall” comes after the verb and describes Juan.
A predicate noun is a noun that follows the verb
and renames the subject:
Juan is a student.
“Student” comes after the verb and renames (is the
same person as) Juan.
To sum up:
To decide whether you need ser or estar, ask yourself
these three questions:
1. Is it showing location?
2. Is this the progressive?
3. Is there a predicate adjective?
If the answer to all three is “no,” you have ser. If the
answer to 1 or 2 is “yes,” you have estar. If the
answer to 3 is “yes,” ask yourself, “Is the predicate
adjective telling me a characteristic of the subject or
a condition of the subject?”