by Kate McCarthy,byITsizePro - York based website design - http://www.byitsizepro.co.uk
One of the hardest verbs to get to grips with in Spanish is also irregular in English. If we think how hard it must be to learn the verb "to be" in English we are probably half way to understanding how difficult it is to learn the Spanish. In Spanish not only is "to be" and irregular verb but there are two different verbs for it SER and ESTAR. So first we have to work out which to use and then work out the conjugations and they are both very irregular and so the easiest thing to do is to learn them in all their forms.
I'll start with a rough explanation of the English verb "to be" to give you an idea of what I mean. In English "to be" is the most used as well as the most irregular verb.
Present forms
I am
You are
He/she/is is
We are
They are
Past forms
I was
You were
He/she/it was
We were
They were
The above is just a simple explanation of the English verb "to be" - there is a lot more to it than that and if you keep checking back I now have a TEFL and CELTA qualified writer that is going to be doing some articles on here for me to help explain the English language a little more.
Now on to the much love Ser and Estar Spanish verbs which I will try to explain for you as simply as I can. I am only going to go into the present tense of the verbs right now.
In simple terms the differences are as follows: Ser would be used to say things about what something is and the nature of it's being and Estar refers more to what something does, so - I might use "soy" (first person singular of "ser" to tell you what I am but would use "Estoy" to tell you what I am being (e.g. I am at home - Estoy en casa).
Here are some examples to show you the difference:
Estoy cansado - I am tired or Soy cansado - I am a tired person
Estoy feliz - I'm happy or Soy feliz - I'm happy by nature
La mazana está verde - the apple is green (condition i.e. unripe) or La manzana es verde (essence i.e. type of apple is green)
One way to remember the difference is to think of "Estar" as referring to a temporary condition, while "Ser" frequently refers to a permanent condition. There are as always, exceptions to the rules time expressions use "Ser" even though the time that it is is very temporary e.g. Son las tres de la tarde - It's 3pm and "Estar" is use to say somebody has died even though this is a very permanent condition e.g. Está muerto - he is dead.
As I said, they are irregular verbs - here are the conjugations for the present tense of both Ser and Estar
One of the hardest verbs to get to grips with in Spanish is also irregular in English. If we think how hard it must be to learn the verb "to be" in English we are probably half way to understanding how difficult it is to learn the Spanish. In Spanish not only is "to be" and irregular verb but there are two different verbs for it SER and ESTAR. So first we have to work out which to use and then work out the conjugations and they are both very irregular and so the easiest thing to do is to learn them in all their forms.
I'll start with a rough explanation of the English verb "to be" to give you an idea of what I mean. In English "to be" is the most used as well as the most irregular verb.
Present forms
I am
You are
He/she/is is
We are
They are
Past forms
I was
You were
He/she/it was
We were
They were
The above is just a simple explanation of the English verb "to be" - there is a lot more to it than that and if you keep checking back I now have a TEFL and CELTA qualified writer that is going to be doing some articles on here for me to help explain the English language a little more.
Now on to the much love Ser and Estar Spanish verbs which I will try to explain for you as simply as I can. I am only going to go into the present tense of the verbs right now.
In simple terms the differences are as follows: Ser would be used to say things about what something is and the nature of it's being and Estar refers more to what something does, so - I might use "soy" (first person singular of "ser" to tell you what I am but would use "Estoy" to tell you what I am being (e.g. I am at home - Estoy en casa).
Here are some examples to show you the difference:
Estoy cansado - I am tired or Soy cansado - I am a tired person
Estoy feliz - I'm happy or Soy feliz - I'm happy by nature
La mazana está verde - the apple is green (condition i.e. unripe) or La manzana es verde (essence i.e. type of apple is green)
One way to remember the difference is to think of "Estar" as referring to a temporary condition, while "Ser" frequently refers to a permanent condition. There are as always, exceptions to the rules time expressions use "Ser" even though the time that it is is very temporary e.g. Son las tres de la tarde - It's 3pm and "Estar" is use to say somebody has died even though this is a very permanent condition e.g. Está muerto - he is dead.
As I said, they are irregular verbs - here are the conjugations for the present tense of both Ser and Estar
| Pronombre | Ser | Estar |
| Yo | soy | estoy |
| Tú | eres | estás |
| Él/ella/usted | es | está |
| Nosotros | somos | estamos |
| Vosotros | sois | estáis |
| Ellos/ellas/ustedes | son | están |
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