There are two verbs “to be” in the Spanish language – SER and ESTAR. With the help of these verbs, we can say “I am, you are, he is” and so on. The difference between SER and ESTAR is:
- SER is used to indicate a constant state, for example, name, occupation, profession, origin, nationality, relation, time, date, identity, permanent characteristic, physical description, and location of an event.
- ESTAR is used to indicate a temporal state, for example: temporal location, status, activity, health, position, emotion, temporary condition.
These verbs are irregular, so their conjugation should just be memorized.
Conjugation of the verb SER – to be:
| Yo soy | I am |
| Tú eres | You are |
| Él es | He is |
| Ella es | She is |
| Usted es | You are (formal) |
| Nosotros(-as) somos | We are |
| Vosotros(-as) sois | You are(plural) |
| Ellos(-as) son | They are |
| Ustedes son | You are (formal, plural) |
What are (-AS) endings? Spanish is a gender-based language. One says nosotros when the speakers are male or mixed-gender groups, and one says nosotras when the speakers are female. The same with vosotros and vosotras, ellos and ellas.
Usted is a formal (polite) pronoun you, and ustedes is plural formal pronoun you. In most of countries of Latin America ustedes is used as plural you instead of vosotros. Vosotros is used widely only in Spain.
Conjugation of the verb ESTAR – to be
| Yo estoy | I am |
| Tú estás | You are |
| Él está | He is |
| Ella está | She is |
| Usted está | You are (formal) |
| Nosotros(-as) estamos | We are |
| Vosotros(-as) estáis | You are(plural) |
| Ellos(-as) están | They are |
| Ustedes están | You are (formal, plural) |
Examples
Ser joven – To be young
Yo soy joven – I am young
Él es joven – He is young
Ellos son jóvenes – They are young
Estar sano – To be healthy
Él está sano – He is healthy
Ella está sana – She is healthy
Ser de Costa Rica – To be from Costa Rica
Ellos son de Costa Rica – They are from Costa Rica
Estar ocupado – to be busy
Nosotros estamos ocupados – We are busy
Ella está ocupada – She is busy
Usted es ocupado – You are busy
Estar enfermo – to be ill
Él está enfermo – he is ill
Ella está enferma – They are ill
Ellas están enfermas – They (females) are ill
Yo soy actor – I am an actor
Nosotros estamos ocupados – we are busy
Lucila es maestra – Lucila is a teacher
Ellos están en la lección – they are at the lesson
Ellas son lindas – they are cute (females)
El pelo es oscuro – the hair is dark
Los hamsters no son rápidos – the hamsters are not fast
El libro está en la biblioteca – the book is in the library
Vosotros estáis sanos – you are healthy
¿Estás contento? – are you glad?
Ella es pequeña – she is short
Ellos son libres – they are free
Las ciudades son grandes – the cities are big
Ella es maestra y está ocupada ahora – She is a teacher and (she) is busy now
Mi hermana está en aeropuerto – My sister is in airport
Javier es de Venezuela – Javier is from Venezuela
Fernando está listo – Fernando is ready
La música es rudiosa – The music is loud
La botella está vacía – The bottle is empty
Build sentences with these nouns and adjectives using all that you learned in this and the previous lesson:
| ocupado – busy bueno – good lindo – cute rápido – fast oscuro – dark el chico – guy la chica – girl corto – short libre – free | el humano – human, la carretera – road la familia – family la camisa – shirt contento – glad la lección – lesson hermoso – beautiful el hermano – brother la hermana – sister | la ciudad – city/town, la amiga – friend (female) el amigo – friend (male) interesante – interesting el maestro – teacher (male) la maestra – teacher (female) la biblioteca – library grande – big |
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