Asides
What's New?
Learning Spanish online: the cheapest or the most qualified?
May 17th, 2008 by LydaTildes
May 11th, 2008 by EstebanThis situation should be changed
May 11th, 2008 by VivianAccents
May 6th, 2008 by EstebanThere is just one Spanish. (part II)
May 6th, 2008 by Lyda
Using ’ser’ or ‘estar’ (2nd part)
June 26th, 2008 by Lyda¿Eres o estás? What a good question!
Let’s start with the verb ‘ser‘. We talked last week about ‘ser‘ to express essential qualities:
Él es alto. (He is tall.)
Ellos son hombres. (They are men.)
Remember: You can be using present, preterit or any other tense. But if you are expressing essential qualities, you have to use ’ser’:
Ella era una mujer bonita. Ella era rubia, delgada y pequeña.
[She was a pretty woman. She was blonde, tiny and small.]
We were talking about ‘estar’ to express condition. Change the tense, but not the verb:
He estado feliz esta semana.
[He has been happy these week.]
Hace un mes estuve enfermo.
[One month ago I was sick.]
¡Hoy estoy bien!
[I’m fine today!]
¿Estabas triste cuando murió tu hermano?
[Were you sad when your brother died?]
Step by step we are going to study some other uses of ’ser’ and ‘estar’. Today we are going to review two more:
Yo estoy en Bogotá. Bogotá es la capital de Colombia. Aquí son las dos y catorce minutos de la tarde. ¿En dónde estás tú? ¿Qué hora es en tu ciudad?
[I am in Bogotá. Bogotá is the capital of Colombia. Here it’s 2:14 in the afternoon. ¿In what city are you? What time is it in your city?]
We use ’ser’ to express time: day, date, and hour. We use ‘estar’ to express location:
Ayer eran las 2:00pm y yo estaba en la biblioteca, cuando mi papá llegó en su coche.
[Yesterday it was two o’clock and I was at the library when my father arrived in his car.]
Some examples with ’ser’ to express day, date and hour:
La boda fue a las seis en punto.
[The wedding was at 6:00 o’clock.]
Ayer fue lunes, hoy es martes y mañana será miércoles.
[Yesterday was Monday, today is Tuesday and tomorrow will be Wednesday.]
Some examples with ‘estar’ to express location:
Yo he estado en París, Roma y Madrid.
[I’ve been in Paris, Rome and Madrid.]
Yo no he estado en Argentina.
[I’ve not been in Argentina.]
El año pasado yo estaba en Grecia cuando conocía Mónica.
Last year I was in Greece when I met Mónica.]
I want you to keep in mind a couple things:
1. We use ’ser’ to express essential qualities and time.
2. We use ‘estar’ to express condition and location.
3. The tenses change but the specific use for ’ser’ or ‘estar’ is the same with all the different tenses.
4. Usually we talk about ’ser’ like a verb to express something permanent and ‘estar’ to express something temporal. Temporal and permanent in general are a good rule, but don’t forget languages are not exact sciences and in some point this rule is not going to apply. Everything depends! Depends on the situation, depends on the country, and depends on the speaker.
You will need a lot of practice, you will make a lot of mistakes, and you will need to be exposed to many different situations. It’s not easy, but you will use ’ser’ and ‘estar’ better with time and experience.
Good luck! We have a lot to talk about with ’ser’ and ‘estar’ and we are just at the beginning.
Using ’ser’ or ‘estar’
May 31st, 2008 by LydaUsing ’ser’ or ‘estar’
When someone starts learning a language, he or she always finds some specific aspects more difficult than others. When you’re learning Spanish, this is the case of ’ser’ and ‘estar’. In English we have one ‘to be’ verb but in Spanish we have to ways to say ‘to be’: ’ser’ and ‘estar’.
Today I want to give you some tips on how to use ’ser’ and ‘estar’:
1. If you want to express essential characteristics you need to use ‘ser‘:
I am intelligent. = Yo soy inteligente.
I am a woman. = Yo soy mujer.
Essential characteristics are expressed in Spanish using the verb ’ser’. Don’t get confused with tenses. In present, preterit, future, or any other tense if you want to express an essential characteristic, you have to use the verb ’ser’:
When I was a child I used to be thin. = Cuando yo era niña era delgada.
I have always been intelligent. = Yo siempre he sido inteligente.
You change the tense and the conjugation but you continue using the same verb: ’ser’.
2. If you want to express condition, you need to use ‘estar‘:
I am fine. = Yo estoy bien
I am sad. = Yo estoy triste.
I am happy. = Yo estoy feliz.
Once again don’t forget to use ‘estar’ if you are expressing condition. Change the tense, change the sentence but always choose ‘estar‘ if you want to talk about your own or someone’s condition:
I was sad on the weekend and I was happy yesterday. = Yo estuve triste el fin de semana y estuve feliz ayer.
In English you use one ‘to be’ verb but in Spanish you need to use two: ’ser’ and ‘estar’.
I have a paragraph here, using ’ser’ and ‘estar’. I’m using different tenses but still following the ‘rule’ about essential characteristics using ’ser’ and condition using ‘estar’.
Yo soy Lyda. Soy colombiana y soy bonita. Cuando era niña yo era rubia. Ahora soy una mujer adulta y no soy rubia. Cuando era pequeña siempre estaba feliz. Yo nunca estaba triste.
Ahora estoy feliz. Yo casi nunca estoy triste.
Esta semana yo no he estado triste. Toda la semana he estado bien.
¡Yo soy Lyda y estoy feliz!
I am Lyda. I am Colombian and I am pretty. When I was a child I was blond. Now I am an adult woman and I am not blond. When I was little I was always happy. I was never sad. Now I am happy. I am almost never sad.
This week I’ve not been sad. All week I’ve been fine.
I am Lyda and I am happy.
Check how in the previous paragraph we used two different verbs in Spanish: ’ser’ and ‘estar’ and in English we used just one: ‘to be’. Try to write a similar paragraph with your personal information paying attention to the uses of ’ser’ and ‘estar’.
It’s not easy. It’s difficult for beginners and advanced students. Paying attention to the ‘rules’ and practice will help you use them appropriately.
Next time we will talk about some more ‘tips’ on when to use ’ser’ and ‘estar’.
