41
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Etymologically, why do "ser" and "estar" exist? / Etimológicamente, ¿por qué existen "ser" y "estar"?
Way back in the times of the Latin language, there were two different verbs, but not with the same meaning as today:
sum, es, esse, fui1, meaning "to be" (Spanish: "ser", "estar", "haber"). This was ...
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21
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Translation of the phrase "I'm happy."
It depends on the context of the question .
The verb "estar" in that phrase is commonly used for that particular moment.
Estoy feliz. (I am happy at the moment.)
However, "ser" can be used for ...
- 326
16
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What are the differences between "ser" and "estar"? When to use each? // ¿Cuáles son las diferencias entre "ser" y "estar"? ¿Cuándo se usa cada uno?
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 ...
11
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Using “ser” without "un/una"?
That's an interesting use of broma. You know that the verb ser does not need an article when the word following is an adjective:
El coche es azul.
Ha sido divertido.
In the case of broma, the ...
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10
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Agreeing with the complement not the subject: esto son, eso son, lo mejor son
I think the answer is easy: what you think is the predicate is in fact the subject. The sentences are just inverted. If you turn them over, you get:
Los avisos son lo mejor de la televisión.
Los ...
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9
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Are there any rules governing when you can and cannot use a present tense form of "ser" + a past participle to form a passive sentence?
"ser" + past participle in the present tense can be used in any passive context where the present is allowed. The difference with "estar" + past participle is that the former will indicate the process,...
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8
votes
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Which of the three Spanish "is" words should be used about the God's existence?
haber is used to talk about the existence of something, with that thing being a direct object. So if you could imagine yourself rewriting with existir, then haber is generally what you'll want to use....
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What should we use when it comes to employment, "soy" or "estoy"?
Permanent vs. temporary can be a useful shorthand for ser vs. estar, but it's also an oversimplification. According to Cisneros' "Spanish in Three Months", the various usages of ser vs estar can be ...
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8
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When do you use 'tener' to replace 'estar' or 'ser' for am/is/are?
As shown by the comment and the answer above, I think we can define a rule for the alternate use of "estar" and "tener" when predicating a state about the subject:
"tener&...
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8
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"Mi esposo piensa que es un santo" - why is "un" necessary in this sentence?
I agree with Mauricio but would like to add something that might account for the presence of the article in this particular case.
Unlike most other nouns denoting occupation, religion, affiliation or ...
- 29.3k
7
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Etymologically, why do "ser" and "estar" exist? / Etimológicamente, ¿por qué existen "ser" y "estar"?
Why do ser and estar exist?
They have different roots, in particular the Spanish verb ser has multiple roots:
The infinitive (e.g. ser), the conditionals (e.g. sería) and the future form (e.g. seré) ...
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Estás versus Eres: meanings in "you are a noun + adjective"
The distinction is that the first sentence grammatically says "at this moment you are a naughty girl" This is incorrect.
What you mean happens in this example: you see the girl all "...
- 48k
7
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Está aceptado vs. Es aceptado
Both the following forms are common to refer to the status of havig been admitted:
El niño ha sido aceptado/admitido en la universidad
El niño está aceptado/admitido en la universidad
which means &...
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Use of "está" to describe something being good/bad
That would be an incomplete example. As you guess you can use both ser/estar.
It is not very good
If we refer to, for example a deal, we would use ser:
(el trato) no es muy bueno
If we refer to ...
- 48k
6
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Ser and Estar Questions
As a general rule, "ser" is used for permanent conditions and "estar", for temporary conditions.
1) You can say: "Este equipo está muy bueno" to mean that, considering its current composition or ...
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Why are "ser" and "estar" used in these two sentences?
It doesn't matter if you say:
¿Que tal estuvo tu noche? or ¿Que tal fue tu noche?
Both mean the same, but fue is a little bit less formal.
Also notice that fue in this case, comes from the verb ir ...
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Using “ser” without "un/una"?
There are indeed cases in Spanish in which the zero article is used with singular, countable nouns.
The examples at issue can take an indefinite article:
Es (una) broma.
Es (una) muy linda ciudad.
(...
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6
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¿Tiene o ha tenido el verbo "ser" participio de presente?
Como le he comentado a Gustavson, barajaba la posibilidad de que el participio de presente (o activo) del verbo ser fuera ente. Y buscando un poco he dado con un artículo de la Fundéu que dice:
El ...
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5
votes
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What should we use when it comes to employment, "soy" or "estoy"?
To be a professor is a permanent characteristic, an attribute of the person, unrelated to their employment status. If you are a professor, you can be an unemployed professor, a professor working as a ...
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5
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"San Diego 'es' en California", or "San Diego 'está' en California"?
Estar is always used for location, as it's not an inherent characteristic of physical things.
Don't think of ser as for permanent things rather for inherent, intrinsic, or essential qualities. ...
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When is it appropriate to use 'ser' versus 'estar' for 'nuevo' or 'barato'?
In English the verb To be is used in both cases but in Spanish those are two completely different verbs with different meanings. The full explanation could be a long one but the short one using your ...
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"Mi esposo piensa que es un santo" - why is "un" necessary in this sentence?
In the DLE there is this meaning:
uno, na
3. art. indet. Indica que lo denotado por el nombre o el grupo nominal al que precede no designa un individuo particular, sino un tipo. Un político ...
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How can *estar aburrido* and *ser aburrido* both mean "to be boring"?
There's at least one study¹ about the use of the copulas ser and estar (in Puerto Rican Spanish) that, among other things, finds that more than a few adjectives that are normally predicated with ser ...
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4
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Translation of the phrase "I'm happy."
In Spanish to talk about a feeling (happiness) you would use estar (denotes location or a state of being).
Estoy ... contento (a)
...alegre
...feliz
all of which translate to about the same ...
4
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Is 'sin ser' synonymous with 'sin estar'?
No, they are not
Even though you are adding "sin" (therefore making it negative) it doesn't change the meaning of the verbs, ser is still ser and estar is still estar.
In your example, you couldn't ...
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Why Estar conjugation is used with food-items?
In very broad terms, estar refers to a temporary state, while ser refers to a permanent one. So, to give you some food examples:
Esta sopa está caliente.
This soup is (now) hot. It might be cold ...
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Why not this ? How are you in Spanish?
The thing is that translating the verb be to spanish, it has to be done with two verbs with different meanings: ser and estar. And they can't be used interchangeably. If you think about it, it's a ...
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Using “ser” without "un/una"?
Well, saying "Es broma" is different from saying "Es una broma".
"Es broma" means "Just kidding"/"I'm joking" but with the "una" it means "It's a joke".
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If I'm saying that something is two adjectives and one uses "ser" but the other uses "estar", what should I do?
El perro es grande y está enojado.
The verb ser is (among other things) for defining a feature. So the dog is big is
el perro es grande
because it is "permanently big". Permanently doesn't mean ...
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When do you use 'tener' to replace 'estar' or 'ser' for am/is/are?
There is, to my knowledge, no general rule for predicting whether tener is appropriate in a given case to replace ser/ester, but rather the usage is idiomatic. There are many examples of this, though ...
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