What is the difference between ser and estar?

What is the difference between ser and estar? – When beginning to learn Spanish, one of the first obstacles you will face is determining how to properly use the verbs ser and estar. The bad news is that both of these are translated into English as “to be,” which makes things a bit more interesting. What’s the upbeat report? If you have no prior information, then you have an equal probability of getting it correctly either way. It may even be worse!

In order to improve your odds and begin making educated guesses, you will first need to let go of your mono concept of “to be” and understand that you will need to perform a secondary analysis in order to determine which “to be” you will require in order to accurately express what it is that you want to say. Your brain will need some time to adjust to the new information, but we are certain that with a little bit of practise, you will be able to get the hang of it.

First, let’s have a look at the present tense conjugations:

NOTE: If the verb in question is estar, the conjugation will always start with the prefix est-. This is just a brief hint to help you remember which conjugation corresponds to which form. The “other one” is known as Ser.

It is in your best interest to spend a few moments learning things by heart before jumping in headfirst. Just take a moment to focus on conjugating one verb. Take a piece of paper with you and try to jot down as much as you can from memory on the sheet. If you get anything incorrect, try it again till you get 100%.

Now, the difficult part: deciding. The very short solution is to follow this straightforward rule: the preposition ser is used to signify permanent states, whereas the preposition estar is used to indicate transient states and locales. This addresses the vast majority of it, and if you follow the steps in the right order, your accuracy will climb to roughly 85%. Better than half and half!

Taking a more macro perspective, the most effective way to tackle this is from a situational one. You will never have a reason to list every possible application of Spanish unless you are getting ready to become a Spanish teacher. To become proficient in a language, all you need to know is the appropriate thing to say at any given time.

And while we’re on the subject of those “moments,” here’s pretty much all you needed to know about the difference between ser and estar. ¡Vamos! (Let’s go!)

HALFWAY BETWEEN SER AND ESTAR FOR DESCRIBING PEOPLE, PLACES, AND THINGS

Permanent States – SER:

You are going to use ser whenever you want to describe the appearance of someone or anything, the attributes that they have, where they are from, what they are made of, their profession, their nationality, etc.

Temporary States – ESTAR:

The verb estar is used for describing a more fleeting quality, such as an individual’s current state of mind or the way something appears, feels, smells, etc. at the present instant.

LOCATION – MOSTLY ESTAR

Estar is used to specify a location while giving directions or an explanation.

To be clear, a thing’s or a person’s location need not be a fixed one. Whatever the case, estar it must be, save for….

If you need to specify where anything is taking place, use ser.

THE HOUR, DAY, AND DATE – SER

POSSESSION – SER

THE WILD CARDS – SER & ESTAR

There are instances when both are grammatically correct. However, the meaning will change dramatically depending on what you use.

More examples:

MARITAL & LIFE STATUS – ESTAR

RELATIONSHIPS – SER

¡Ahí está! That settles it! The rules of ser y estar are complex, and the examples given here are not meant to cover every possible scenario. That’s the kind of thing that would make us giddy (and it does). These are the big-picture considerations for our current discussion. Your accuracy should be closer to 99% if you can get your brain around all of the above and put it into practice. You’ll learn the rest as you go along and fit it into what you already know.

Oh, and always keep in mind that setbacks are only lessons in disguise. Don’t worry too much about the little failures since they get you closer to success.

To be or not to be. That is the question. (Hamlet) — What would you say? (Bonus question!)

Ser o no ser, esa es la cuestión.

If you wish to learn Spanish online or offline and live in Mumbai or Navi Mumbai, India, then you must check out Learnlanguages.store’s spanish courses, which are highly recommended. You can download the app from the Play Store or App Store

Happy learning!