So here we go lets dive into the ” SER Y ESTAR ” world.

I know, I know you probably have heard so many times about this and at the beginning probably I just gonna repeat what you already know so if you want, feel free to jump straight to the tip, but I would recommend to have a look, it is never bad to learn something new.

SER

SER, it is used for so many things…have a look

1-Profesión

“Yo soy profesora”- Iam a teacher

2-Relación

“Beatriz es mi hermana”-Beatriz is my sister

3-Tiempo

“Son las ocho”-It is eight oclock

4-Descripción

“Mateao es alto”-Mateo is tall

5-Origen

“Pedro es de Cuba”-Pedro is from Cuba

6-Características

“La tortuga es lenta”-the turtle is slow

ESTAR

Pretty much the same, it is used for several things, lets have a look

1-Posición

“las llaves están en la mesa”-the keys are on the table

2-Lugar

“estamos en el parque”-we are in the park

3-Acción

“Estoy comiendo”-I am eating

4-Condición

“El rojo está de modo”-The colour red is trendy

5-Emoción

“Estoy cansada”-I am tired

 

 

TIP

Even when all the above is right, it is so much info and when we are learning a new language we want things as simple as possible, dont we?

That is why if you are able to differentiate among permanent things and non permanent ones you have a wining there, because you would know to use SER with the permanent ones and ESTAR for the things that change, because if you think about it most of the things we have said above can fit into this two categories.

Origin, “I am Spanish” it is something you can not change, you can like it or not but you someone is always gonna be Spanish…therefore permanent. If we say ” estoy en el parque” it means you are in the park now, but you are not gonna stay there forever (we hope) therefore non-permanent, same with your moods, when we say “estoy cansada”, it is because we are feeling tired now, but it is not going to last forever. If we talk about relationships, as “Beatriz es mi hermana” we are not doing any other things but describing my relationship with Beatriz. To talk about your job, all right, you can change your job, therefore can be something non permanent but you are describing what you do, arent you? That is why we used SER, because it  a description of what we do for living, if we talk about position,”las llaves están en la mesa” the keys are on the table, but they are on the table now, probably when you leve the house they will be in your pocket, so they change.And what about “El rojo está de moda”, red colour is trendy now…but probably it will not last forever…that is why is trendy,

And like that all the bullets points above can be summed up.

Other tip to keep in mind is if you are describing something…Always you describe something or someone…SER, for example lets go to the  time…time is a description, you are describing the time then…guess what?SER, the same with dates, you are describing which date are we on so…yeah you got it SER., that is why we say “hoy es viernes”, we are describing the date we are on 🙂

 

WATCH OUT

One of the most difficult part is that when I gave you the general rules, there are two confusing exceptions…and it is that we use ESTAR when we talk about directions and locations, so when we say,

“¿Dónde está la biblioteca?” Aka in English Where is the library? We assume the library is always going to be at the same plase but we are asking for direction so…watch out..and use ESTAR

The other one is “Londres está en Ingkaterra” , London is in England, we expect London to be in England always, it would be permanent but be careful!It is a location…so ESTAR

Note-see it is not the same “Londres está en Inglaterra”-location that is why we use ESTAR that “Londres es la capital the Inglaterra”, London is the capital of England, in this one we are describing, that is why we use SER.

HOMEWORK

I recommend you to practice as much as you can, because next week we are going to check if SER Y ESTAR  are stuck in your mind, we will practice in a fun way, so your homework for next week is to study, practice…and repeat J

As always I hope you have found this useful, and SER y ESTAR is a bit more clear now 🙂 .

If you have any tip about how you learn the differences between SER Y ESTAR feel free to leave a comment, it probably helps a lot of people.

Take care and !nos vemos pronto!