You may recall that in my present indicative lesson, I mentioned another to be verb besides the mother of all Spanish verbs, ser. Today I will talk about the other verb, estar.
Conjugations of Estar
Yo: estoy
Tú: estás
Él, ella, ud.: está
Nosotros: estamos
Vosotros: estáis
Ellos/ellas, uds.: están
Ser vs. estar is said to be one of the most difficult concepts in Spanish, but that arises due to an issue in organizing the rule. Most teachers will tell you that the difference is that ser refers to a permanent state of being, while estar refers to a temporary state of being. However, this is too vague of a rule and creates unnecessary confusion. For example, time is calculated using ser, while talking about death uses estar! Because of this, I looked up some acronyms for the times to use ser and estar in a sentence. Here they are:
Ser:
Descriptions
Occupations (job and education)
Characteristics (who you are on the inside)
Time (on a clock)
Origin
Relationships (with family, friends, etc.)
I should also add that religions are included on the ser chart.
Estar:
Position (i.e. standing, sitting, etc.)
Location (at the mall, at the grocery store)
Action (we'll cover this when we get to gerundios)
Conditions (including death)
Emotions (because feelings are fleeting)
Ejemplos:
Soy una cristiana. (I am a Christian - characteristic)
Es a las tres. (It is three o-clock - time)
Ellos son de Estados Unidos. (They are from the United States - origin)
¿Dónde está mi madre? (Where is my mother? - location query)
¿Cómo estás? (How are you? - condition)
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Language Bites, Volume I: Spanish ✔
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