SER vs. ESTAR in Spanish – Part One

Mastering the difference between the Spanish infinitive verbs SER and ESTAR at the very beginning of the learning process is essential for the future fluency as incorrect usage of them cause some funny situations while talking to the native speakers of Spanish or even bring you into troubles. Both verbs mean in English TO BE, but depending on the context they give the same adjectives completely different interpretations.

The verb SER is used to describe constant properties like occupation, nationality, place of origin, appearance, personality, possession, personal relationships etc. SER is also the right choice if you speak about time (day, hour) or the price of something.

ESTAR mostly defines a short-term state or condition of a person or an object as well as physical or geographic location. Human emotions are the most prominent example of such time-limited conditions when ESTAR is used. ESTAR also describes ongoing actions – similar to Present Continuous in English – and is often followed by a present participle (ESTAR + gerundio). See more details in the examples below.

NOTE: Personal relationships meaning blood-related connections or friendships need to be used with SER, while marital status goes with ESTAR, except in “ser viudo” – “to be widowed”.

Conjugation of SER

	Presente	Pretérito Imperfecto	Pretérito Indefinido	Futuro
yo	soy	era	fui	seré
tú	eres	eras	fuiste	serás
él/ella/Usted	es	era	fue	será
nosotros/nosotras	somos	éramos	fuimos	seremos
vosotros/vosotras	sois	erais	fuisteis	seréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	son	eran	fueron	serán

Conjugation of ESTAR

	Presente	Pretérito Imperfecto	Pretérito Indefinido	Futuro
yo	estoy	estaba	estuve	estaré
tú	estás	estabas	estuviste	estarás
él/ella/Usted	está	estaba	estuvo	estará
nosotros/nosotras	estamos	estábamos	estuvimos	estaremos
vosotros/vosotras	estáis	estabais	estuvisteis	estaréis
ellos/ellas/Ustedes	están	estaban	estuvieron	estarán

Examples of SER:

(Yo) soy de Ucrania – I am from Ukraine

Michael es alemán – Michael is German

Ella es muy bonita – She is very pretty

Soy hermano de Juan – I am Juan’s brother

El reloj es de oro – The watch is gold

Son las cinco – It‘s five o’clock

Hoy es lunes – Today is Monday

Son 50 euros – It´s 50 euros (meaning “it costs 50 euros”)

Examples of ESTAR:

Carlo está triste – Carlo is sad

¿Cómo estás? – How are you?

Estoy en Madrid – I am in Madrid

La farmacia está abierta – The pharmacy is open

Julio e Isabel están casados – Julio and Isabel are married

Estamos hablando – We are talking (right now)

In the second part, I am going to publish a list of adjectives which have different meanings depending on whether they are used with SER or ESTAR. It will be funny!