ser vs. estar
Posted by admin on February 21st, 2008 filed in UncategorizedI know that learning Spanish can be difficult and at times frustrating, like learning any other language would be. Especially when it comes to learning all the rules and exceptions, which there are many that can throw you for a loop.
My friend Carol takes Spanish lessons once a week in Washington D.C and though she enjoys the classes and is making tremendous improvement, she still has problems with some of the verbs; for example the dreaded “ser” and “estar” verbs. Those two verbs can drive the most dedicated student crazy. But don’t fear them once you get the hang of them you’ll see that using them is as easy as pie. I have compiled a short lesson and exercise to help you understand the forms and usage of “ser” and “estar,” which will be posted tomorrow. Hopefully this will be of some help to all those dedicated Spanish students.
Rules of “estar”:
To understand this verb all you have to know is P.L.A.C.E. (position, location, action, condition, emotion).
The following are examples of each category of “estar” use:
position: expresses the physical position of a person or thing:
estar sentado / seating estar levantado / standing estar acostado / lying down
location: expresses where places, people, or things are located:
estoy en Nueva York / I’m in New York el libro está en la mesa / the book is on the table
action: expresses the result of an action or the progressive:
el hombre está muerto / the man is dead estoy comiendo ahora / I’m eating right now
condition: expresses health and other changeable states:
estar enfermo / to be sick estar sucio / to be dirty estar lleno / to be full
emotion: expresses emotion such as:
estar contento / to be happy estar triste / to be sad estar deprimido / to be depress
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Hola Andres, mi nombre es Casey. I’m currently taking Spanish classes in Washington, DC with a native instructor. Actually I took first Spanish classes in Maryland, but I work in DC now and that's why I take the Spanish lessons in Washington, DC (with a native Spanish tutor). I just wanted to thank you for making this blog and for the articles you write. Like I mentioned, I’m a Spanish student, right now I consider myself to be in an intermediate level. I understand most of what I hear and talk some. I love speaking Spanish and the culture, the Latin American culture was what motivated me to start taking Spanish lessons. I plan to travel to Latin America (Antofagasta, Chile, donde vive lo primos de mi novio). I hope to find Spanish tutors there, since I want to speak Spanish perfectly well! I really like the articles you post. They are very helpful, they are not only interesting, but they also help me practice my Spanish. Even though I don’t understand some of what is written, it helps me a lot to see the words that I’ve learned in my Spanish class used in sentences. I attended even one of the meetups you are promoting on your web site www.learnspanishdc.com and I enjoyed it and learned really much.

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