Lesson 18: Ser vs Estar Explained (Beginner Spanish Grammar)

In this lesson, we're going to look at two very important verbs in Spanish, ser and estar. So far in the course, to say it is, we have been using this sound of S. Now, let's take a small step back here. This small phrase of it is, is actually a conjugation that derives from the verb to be. But the thing is, in Spanish, there are actually two verbs for to be. Those are ser and estar. Both mean to be, but they're used in different ways. Ser is used for more permanent and inherent characteristics, whereas estar is used for temporary states and conditions. This is the very general top-down definitions of these verbs, but when we break it down in a nicer way, it looks like this. For ser, we'll use this when talking about identity and for general use. Then, on the other side, we have estar. Again, this is also the verb to be, but we'll use this whenever talking about location, emotions or feelings. Right, typically, these are things that are more temporary, whereas things relating to our identity are more permanent characteristics, such as our name, where we are from, our height and so on. So, what that means is that whenever you come across the verb to be, or a conjugation of that, such as it is, in Spanish, you have to make a choice. Do you go on the ser side or the estar side? Don't worry, we'll keep it simple and take it step by step. Let's start by using the full verb to be. So, this will either be ser or estar. It depends on what you're talking about. Take a look at this sentence. I want to be here. So, this is about location. Therefore, we'll use estar. So, in Spanish, it would be quiero estar aquí. I want to be here. Quiero estar aquí. Here we have I want to be a doctor. Now, we're not going to use estar here. Spanish looks at this very differently. Your job is seen as something more permanent, as part of who you are. Therefore, Spanish will go with ser. Quiero ser médico. Médico means doctor, and as you can see, there's no a. In Spanish, you will literally just say I want to be doctor. You wouldn't bother with the a here. Quiero ser médico. Now, because we have two options for to be, it means that we also have two options for it is. Those are es and estar. We're already familiar with this sound of es. This is coming from the verb ser. We've been using it quite a lot in the course to say things like es posible, es importante, es bueno, and so on. All of that is considered general use. And now we have this sound of estar, which is coming from the verb estar. So, once again, whenever we come across it is or is it, we'll need to make a choice here. Es or estar. How do you say it's possible? Es posible. So, this is general use. Proper examples would be It's very important. Es muy importante. It's good for me. Es bueno para mí. Now, what about this one? It's here. It would be Está aquí. Whenever something is here, you're talking about location. If we go back to our chart, you can clearly see that location is one of our primary uses of estar. So, this is the side that we are falling on, which is leading us into this sound of estar, for it is. It is here. Está aquí. How would you say the car is here? El coche está aquí. What would it be in the negative? It's not here. No está aquí. The car is not here. El coche no está aquí. What about The car is red. What do you think this would be? El coche es rojo. Being red is an inherent characteristic of this car. Essentially, it ties into the identity of the car, which is our main use that we have with ser. Even though it's not a person, this idea of identity can also extend to things and objects like cars. So, the car being red is part of its identity. Therefore, we went with es. El coche es rojo. Now, here's a nice bonus. We know that es can stand for he is, she is and it is. Well, the same goes for está. This can be used for the angle of he is, she is and it is. So, we have a lot of power in these two sounds. How would you say he is here? Está aquí. She is here. Same again. Está aquí. What about She is not here. No está aquí. What about He is a doctor. Es médico. Right, it doesn't matter if you're using the full verb like we had in this sentence before. Quiero ser médico. Or, if you're using a conjugation like here with es. We're following the exact same rules. The word for happy in Spanish is feliz. How would you express she is happy? Está feliz. Right, we use está when talking about emotions so She is happy. Está feliz. Of course, this can also stand for he is happy. It's usually clear based on the context of the conversation who you're talking about. How would you say he's not happy? No está feliz. The word for sad is triste. Triste. Now try to say he's sad today. Está triste. The word for home is the same word as for house. What is that in Spanish? Casa. How would you say she's at home? Está en casa. She's not home today. No está en casa hoy. To say I am, once again we have two options in Spanish. The two options are soy and estoy. Soy comes from the verb ser, whereas estoy comes from the verb estar. Right, so whenever you want to say I am, just like before, you have to choose. Does it fall on the ser side or does it fall on the estar side? This is the main question that you need to ask yourself. Once you have your answer, it will lead you into the correct sound. How would you say I'm here? Estoy aquí. I'm at home. Estoy en casa. I'm a doctor. Soy médico. The word for teacher is profesor. How would you say I'm a teacher? Soy profesor. I'm not a doctor, I'm a teacher. No soy médico, soy profesor. I'm happy. Estoy feliz. The word for tired in Spanish is cansado, or if you're a female then you would say cansada. How would you say I'm tired? Estoy cansado or estoy cansada. To say a little or a little bit is un poco. Now say I'm a little bit tired. Estoy un poco triste. The word for fine or well is bien, bien. How would you express I'm well? Estoy bien. I'm well, thank you. Estoy bien, gracias. When saying what your name is, this is of course part of who you are, this is part of your identity, so it will fall on the side of ser. So if, for example, I said I'm Pablo, then it would be soy Pablo. So this is one way that you can introduce yourself and say your name. You might also say where you're from, for example, I'm from Mexico. Again, this ties very much into your identity and it's something that's permanent, this isn't something that can change, so it would be soy de México. This topic of ser versus estar is quite a deep subject in Spanish, I could probably spend an entire module just talking about it. This video was really just an early introduction into this deep subject, but hopefully you now have a good general feel for how we use each verb as these will come up quite a lot in the course. So to recap, in Spanish we have two verbs for to be. We use ser when talking about identity and also general usage, things that are more permanent, whereas we'll use estar when talking about location, emotions and feelings, things that are typically more temporary and can quite easily change. Let's finish up with a short drill where we'll mix and match both the angles that we covered. He's very happy. I'm Pablo and I'm a doctor. She's from Mexico. She's tired. He's not here today. The car is white. Today is Monday. He's a little sad today. The book is on the table. I'm very happy. It's not possible today. My brother is here. My mom is well, thank you. I'm in the house now and it's very big.