Ser and Estar Used in Different Ways

From the mailbox (links added):

Could you possibly give me some idea about where and how to go about learning the verbs ser and estar? I believe that this is the reason I did not pass my class. I am really having a problem with the verb "to be." I got discouraged and stopped going to class and I received a F for a final grade but I am attempting to take the course again for spring 2011. I think that I should mention also that I am returning to school after some time (20 years). I have always wanted to learn Spanish and it really does seems like a foreign language to me :). I also read your article on these verbs and I am still confused.

Welcome to the club! You aren't the first Spanish student to be confused about ser and estar, and you won't be the last. But rest assured that as you learn the language, and especially once you can start thinking in Spanish, the differences between the two verbs will become intuitive.

I decided to answer your question here in the blog because I hope that others learning Spanish can share their insights. What works for me in understanding the two verbs may not work for you — but what works for someone else might.

The first thing I would suggest is to try to not think of ser and estar as translations for "to be" — instead, try to think about what they mean and/or how they function in a sentence.

That said, ser generally is used indicate the essence, the inherent nature of what someone or something is. It's used to identify a thing or person, to describe its/his/her characteristics, to classify persons or things. Estar, on the other hand, can be thought of as more of an "action" verb, and it is used when talking about the conditions of things or persons rather than their characteristics. It is not used in classifying people or things, nor in defining.

One way of seeing the difference between the two verbs is to look at the meaning of two simple questions that differ only in which verb is used:

¡Cómo es tu madre? (What is your mother like?) In this question using a conjugated form of ser, the speaker is asking about your mother's characteristics — what kind of person she is, perhaps classifying information such as her age or occupation. The questioner isn't trying to find out information about her current condition, but rather who she is.¡Cómo está tu madre? (How is your mother?) In this case, by using a conjugated form of estar, the speaker hopes to find out something about her condition, not what kind of person she is. For example, if your mother's health has been an issue, the questioner might want to know about that — and answers could be "está sana" (she's healthy) or "está enferma" (she's sick). Or perhaps she has been out of work, and if she now has job, "está empleada" (she's employed) would be an appropriate way of referring to her employment condition.

See how this pattern is followed in some other simple sentences:

Soy enojada. (I am an angry person. It's the way I am. It's a characteristic of me.) Estoy enojada. (I'm angry. That's my current condition.)Soy gordo. (I am a fat person. Fat is what kind of person I am. Fatness is one of my characteristics.) Estoy gordo. (My current condition is being fat.)Soy aburrida. (I am boring. That's what kind of person I am.) Estoy aburrida. (I am bored. That's my current condition.)Soy profesor de matemáticas. (I am a math teacher. That's part of what I am, it's part of what defines and classifies me.) Estoy de profesor de matemáticas. (I teach mathematics. A math teacher isn't necessarily what I am, but teaching math is something I'm doing.)

This brief answer can't get into all the differences between ser and estar, and I've barely gotten into the different ways they are used in sentences. But I hope this shows you a bit about how Spanish speakers have a different understanding of the two verbs, and how the choice of verb affects how they interpret a sentence.

View the original article here