Ser and estar: identity, state and location

What you’ll learn

• Use ser for identity, origin and basic characteristics.
• Use estar for location and states.
• Recognize common present-tense forms of both verbs.

Identify and describe with ser

English 'be' corresponds to more than one Spanish verb. Use ser to identify someone, give an origin or occupation, and describe a characteristic in context. Start with soy, eres, es, somos and son; vosotros uses sois. A simple job description usually omits an indefinite article: Soy profesora, rather than a word-for-word translation of 'I am a teacher'.

Do not reduce the distinction to permanent and temporary. A meeting's time is not permanent, but Spanish uses ser for time. A person's location may last for years, but it normally uses estar. Learn what the sentence does: identify, characterize, locate or describe a state.

Locate and describe states with estar

Use estar to locate a person or thing, or to describe how someone feels. Its common forms are estoy, estás, está, estamos and están; vosotros uses estáis. Pay attention to the written accents. The place name or prepositional phrase usually follows the verb: Estamos en casa.

Some adjectives change interpretation with the verb. Es aburrido describes someone or something as boring; está aburrido describes someone as bored. For now, practise location and a small set of states such as bien, cansado and contenta. Event locations are a later exception: La reunión es en la biblioteca uses ser.

Useful vocabulary

cansado / cansada

tired

contento / contenta

happy / pleased

aquí

here

Common mistakes

• Permanent versus temporary is an unreliable shortcut; identify the sentence's function.
• Write está with its accent when it is a verb.
• For a simple unmodified occupation, say soy médico or soy profesora.

Keep these ideas

• Ser identifies and characterizes.
• Estar locates people/things and expresses states.
• Learn both verbs' irregular forms in short useful sentences.

Use it in your life

Describe one story character with ser, then describe their location and current feeling with estar.

Read it in context

Look for this lesson’s ideas in a complete Spanish story. Read the passage first, then use its translations to check your understanding.