The Difference Between SER and ESTAR

The Conjugations & Contexts of SER and ESTAR (to be)

In this lesson, we’ll cover the difference between ser and estar. We’ll learn the conjugations of estar and the contexts in which to use them. This lesson also includes a ser and estar quiz to assist your comprehension of these two fundamental verbs of the Spanish language.

am, are and is are the conjugations of the verb to be. It’s the most important, most-commonly used verb in all of English. It’s challenging to learn because am, are and is don’t look or sound anything like each other. Nor do they look or sound like to be. In Spanish, the complexity of this verb is not due to its conjugations, but rather, the fact that it’s expressed by two different verbs; ser and estar.

The Difference Between ser and estar

ser is the most commonly-spoken verb in the Spanish language. ser implies being in a permanent sense to express things that are not likely to change. Our identity, origin and characteristics all fall under this category;

I am Joseph

You are tall

She is from Texas

On the other hand, estar expresses temporary situations such as how a person feels at a given moment or where something or someone is located. Unlike ser, estar expresses conditions that *are* likely to change.

I am tired

You are at work.

Contexts of estar

• To express the location and/or position of people, places and things.
• To express the temporary conditions (states, feelings, moods) of people, places and things.

Let’s focus first on estar. We’ll cover ser down below.

Conjugations of estar

The form of estar you use will depend on the subject of your sentence. In the same way that am follows I, are follows you and is follows he, estar has a corresponding conjugation for all of the subject pronouns. Here they are:

Keep in mind that the subject of a sentence is not necessarily the person who’s talking. But rather, it’s the person(s) or thing(s) they are talking about. For example:

I may be the one speaking the above sentences. But only in the first example am *I* the subject. The other sentences are about someone or something else. Therefore, I must use the corresponding conjugation for those different subjects.

ESTAR conjugation quiz

Choose the correct form of estar for the following sentences.

Adjectives Frequently-Used with ESTAR

Since estar is generally used to express temporary locations and conditions, the adjectives that are commonly used with estar often describe a person’s feelings or momentary status. The following list includes several of these adjectives. Notice that adjectives like “tall,” “short,” “smart” and “funny” are not on this list. That’s because those adjectives are more descriptive of a person’s characteristics or permanent qualities. Therefore, these “more-permanent” adjectives are commonly expressed with ser.

Also, notice that most of the adjectives have a masculine form (ending in “o”) and a feminine form (ending in “a”). The form of the adjective you use will depend on the gender of whomever you’re describing. Only a few of the adjectives like bien, disponible and triste are “gender neutral.”

Think about it…any person can experience any one of the above conditions in a given day. We all get tired, busy and sick sometimes, regardless of what kind of person we are. That’s why these adjectives are usually expressed with estar, the more temporary way to express to be in Spanish.

Opposite Adjectives Frequently-Used with ESTAR

Again, here’s another round of common adjectives that are usually expressed with estar. Most of these words describe things more often than they describe people. Nonetheless, the gender of the adjective should be the same as the gender of the thing it describes. An open book (libro m.), for example, is abierto. An open door (puerta f.), on the other hand, is abierta.