Gramática Española

Ser o Estar

How many times the student of Spanish as a Second Language has asked him or herself: Why Ser and Estar have different meanings if they have only one “to be” in my own language? Actually it is a difficult thing to explain and even a more difficult thing to learn. The straight forward explanation Ser vs. Estar = Permanent vs. Temporal it is too simple nowadays and lacks accuracy. There are far more cases that have to be studied with examples, to be understood.

Here we have some explanations to make clear the dilemma Ser vs. Estar :

SER :

  1. Description or definition of people and things: i.e. nationality, origin, job, religion, material or character.

Este vino es de la Rioja
Juan es economista
Pedro es un hombre muy tranquilo
El vaso es de cristal
This wine is from La Rioja
John is economist
Peter is a very quiet man

The glass is made of crystal


 

  1. Date:

Hoy es día 9 de diciembre de 2005 Today's date is December 9 th 2005
Hoy estamos a 9 de diciembre de 2005 Today is December 9 th 2005
Also with the days of the web :
Hoy es viernes; Estamos a viernes . Today's date is Friday; Today is Friday

 


ESTAR :

  1. Place or location is the main use of Estar .

Nerja está en España Nerja is in Spain
Pedro está en su casa Peter is in his house

 

But when we talk about a social event like a party, a conference or any other kind of meeting we use Ser .

La fiesta es en casa de Ana The party is at Ana's home

  1. We also use Estar with physical or emotional moods that are transitory.

Pepe está cansado Peter is tired

  1. Another difference between Ser and Estar is that Ser is used to define a kind of permanent characteristic meanwhile Estar describes those ones that have experimented a sort of change.

Marta está más delgada Martha is thinner

  1. Finally Estar is used with adjectives or participles that are the result of an action.

La ventana está abierta The window is open

The Ser and Estar use with certain adjectives entails another problem. The meaning changes depending on which of the two verbs we choose. For example :

BUENO/A... ser bueno....( to be honest ) /estar bueno ....( to be attractive )
LISTO/A....ser listo ...( to be intelligent ) / estar listo ...( to be ready ).
MALO/A.....ser malo ...(to be bad)/ estar malo ...(to be ill).

The list of adjectives that share this “double meaning” problem is quite long, we have to “keep an eye on it”( estar atentos and not ser atentos which means to be nice) and do not let this to be an obstacle on our understanding and learning of Spanish.
EN ESPAÑOL