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^{This is a stub for the answer. Feel free to collaborate, and remember to add links in case you add information coming from already answered questions. If you want to go deeper into the roots of ser and estar, check out Etymologically, why do "ser" and "estar" exist? / Etimológicamente, ¿por qué existen "ser" y "estar"?}

Pepe es aburrido (he's a boring person in essence).
Pepe está aburrido (his state is bored now).
María es inquieta (María is always like that).
María está inquieta (María is not always like that, but he is now for some reason).
Juan es un muerto viviente (or a zombie, in essence).
Juan está muerto (he's in such a permanent state, but a state nonetheless).

La puerta fue cerrada por el viento (a process in which the door closes is referenced).
La puerta está cerrada (the door is just closed).
Esa puerta estuvo cerrada todo el día de ayer (the door, at some given time, was closed).

Las tartas que hace Juan son espectaculares (they look impressive).
Las tartas que hace Juan están espectaculares (they may not look impressive but the taste is incredibly good).
Las bayas de enebro son malas (they are bad for your health).
Las bayas de enebro están malas (they taste horribly).

• Both ser and estar can be used to ask the price, but ser will be used with the interrogative form cuánto to be informed about the final or total price just before paying, while estar will be used with the interrogative form a cuánto to be informed about the current price of an individual item before making the decision whether to buy it or not:

¡Hola, soy Carlos! (Hi, I'm Carlos!)
Ese es Pepe. (This is Pepe)

• To talk about occupations or procedences:

Yo soy pintor. (I'm a painter)
Mi hermana era ingeniera pero ahora es directora de un hotel. (My sister was engineer but now she's a hotel manager)
Estoy estudiando para ser arquitecto. (I'm studding to become architect)
Yo soy sevillano. (I'm sevillian [I'm from Sevilla])
Juan es de Granada. (Juan is from Granada)

Yo soy una persona alegre. (I'm a happy person)
La manzana es roja. (The apple is red)
El clima acá es terrible. (Weather here is terrible)

One of the most challenging aspects of any language is making sense of idiomatic expressions, that are common knowledge in the community through continuous usage, but may defy the accepted rules of the language, rendering them nonsensical when attempting a literal translation.

The best hope in this cases is finding an equivalent idiomatic expression on the destination language, (probably just as nonsensical) or explaining the reason or situation in which such expressions make sense.

The verbs ser and estar being central to the Spanish language are part of many such expressions, however, in the following examples, the permanency or transitiveness, respectively, are the central theme of the Mexican phrase:

Here, a person experiences sudden anger; like the boiling water required on for preparing the traditional hot cocoa beverage. However the transitive nature of this mood is stressed and reassured through the reference to the beverage: it has too cool down in order to be enjoyed, just as our enraged subject will implicitly return to his implied sweet or mild self. Only through the temporary nature of the verb estar can we convey such a concept in so few words.

The equivalent english Idiom is Are you for real? or are you just playing dumb?

This puzzling but powerful expression is very typical, especially when dealing with distracted kids. It leaves out an implicit adjective, which is universally understood within the context of this phrase: ¿Eres tonto? ¿O solo te haces pasar por tonto? The phrase is a harsh coming to terms with someone who may be playing coy by pretending to not understand. However paradoxically, leaving out whatever implied negative adjective we may want to attach to the question (it works in a multitude of contexts) renders the phrase that much stronger, implying we know better than that person who is pretending not to understand. Here, the permanent nature of being a fool, rather than playing one is used as an incentive to motivate compliance.

^{This is a stub for the answer. Feel free to collaborate, and remember to add links in case you add information coming from already answered questions.}

^{If you want to go deeper into the roots of ser and estar, check out Etymologically, why do "ser" and "estar" exist? / Etimológicamente, ¿por qué existen "ser" y "estar"?}

Pepe es aburrido (he's a boring person, in essence).
Pepe está aburrido (his state is bored now).
María es inquieta (María is always restless).
María está inquieta (María is not always restless, but she is now for some reason).
Juan es un muerto viviente (he is a zombie, in essence).
Juan está muerto (he's in a permanent state of being dead, but a state nonetheless).

La puerta fue cerrada por el viento (a process in which the door closes is referenced).
La puerta está cerrada (the door is closed now).
Esa puerta estuvo cerrada todo el día de ayer (the door, at some given time, was closed).

Las tartas que hace Juan son espectaculares (they look impressive).
Las tartas que hace Juan están espectaculares (they might not look impressive but the taste is incredibly good).
Las bayas de enebro son malas (they are bad for your health).
Las bayas de enebro están malas (they taste horrible).

• Both ser and estar can be used to ask about price, but ser will be used with the interrogative form cuánto to be informed about the final or total price just before paying, while estar will be used with the interrogative form a cuánto to be informed about the current price of an individual item before making the decision whether to buy it or not:

¡Hola, soy Carlos! (Hi, I'm Carlos!)
Ese es Pepe. (That is Pepe.)

• To talk about occupations or background:

Yo soy pintor. (I'm a painter)
Mi hermana era ingeniera pero ahora es directora de un hotel. (My sister was an engineer but now she's a hotel manager)
Estoy estudiando para ser arquitecto. (I'm studding to become architect)
Yo soy sevillano. (I'm Sevillian [I'm from Sevilla])
Juan es de Granada. (Juan is from Granada)

Yo soy una persona alegre. (I'm a happy person)
La manzana es roja. (The apple is red)
El clima acá es terrible. (The weather here is atrocious)

One of the most challenging aspects of any language is making sense of idiomatic expressions, which are common knowledge in the community through continuous usage, but which may defy the accepted rules of the language, rendering them nonsensical when attempting a literal translation.

The best hope in this cases is to find an equivalent idiomatic expression in the target language, (probably just as nonsensical) or to explain the reason or situation in which such an expression makes sense.

The verbs ser and estar, being central to the Spanish language, are part of many such expressions; however, in the following examples, the permanency or transitiveness, respectively, are the central theme of the Mexican phrase:

Here, a person experiences sudden anger; like the boiling water required on for preparing the traditional hot cocoa beverage. However, the transitive nature of this mood is stressed and reassured through the reference to the beverage: it has to cool down in order to be enjoyed, just as our enraged subject will naturally return to his implied sweet or mild self. We can convey such a concept in few words by using the temporary nature of the verb estar:

The equivalent English idiom is Are you for real? Or are you just playing dumb?

This puzzling but powerful expression is very typical, especially when dealing with distracted kids. It leaves out an implicit adjective, which is universally understood within the context of this phrase: ¿Eres tonto? ¿O solo te haces pasar por tonto? The phrase is a harsh coming to terms with someone who may be playing coy by pretending to not understand. However, paradoxically, leaving out whatever implied negative adjective we may want to attach to the question (it works in a multitude of contexts) renders the phrase that much stronger, implying we know better than that person who is pretending not to understand. Here, the permanent nature of being a fool, rather than playing one, is used as an incentive to motivate compliance.

Juan es mi hermano. (Juan is my brother)
Paco era mi jefe. (Paco was my boss)
María es la novia de Isabel. (María is Isabel's girlfriend)

Juan es mi hermano. (Juan is my brother)
Paco era mi jefe. (Paco was my boss)
María es la novia de Isabel. (María is Isabel's partner)

The equivalent english idiom is To be mad as a hornet

The equivalent English idiom is To be mad as a hornet