Verbos Ser y Estar

Conjugation of Ser and Estar

	ser	estar	ser	estar
	presente	presente	pretérito	pretérito
yo	soy	estoy	fui	estuve
tú	eres	estás	fuiste	estuviste
él/ella/usted	es	está	fue	estuvo
nosotros	somos	estamos	fuimos	estuvimos
vosotros	sois	estáis	fuisteis	estuvisteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes	son	están	fueron	estuvieron

Uses of Ser and Estar

SER	ESTAR
D - Description O - Occupation - Ownership N - Nationality T - Time C - Characteristics and Personality - Where an even takes place	H - Health E - Emotions L - Location P - Present Progressive C - Conditions

Uses

SER

To show possession
- El libro es de Miguel (The book is Miguel´s)

To show origin
- El es de Cuba (He is from Cuba)

To show what material something is made of
- La falda es de seda (The skirt is [made of] silk)

To describe a person, place or thing (characteristic, size, length, religion, color, personality, profession, etc.).
- Ella es americana (She is american)
- Ana es joven (Ana is young) - She obviously won´t be young forever but, since the change is gradual, we use the verb SER
- Juan es inteligente (Juan is intelligent) - characteristic
- Madrid es grande (Madrid is big) - size
- El cuento es largo (The story is long) - length
- Ella es católica (She is catholic) - religion
- El coche es rojo (The car is red) - color
- El es muy serio (He is very serious) - personality
- Ellos son médicos (They are doctors) - professions

To express time, dates, days of the week.
- Son las cinco (It is 5:00)
- Es el cuarto de julio (It´s the fourth of July)
- Es lunes (It is Monday)

ESTAR

To express location or position.
- Yo estoy en la tienda (I am in the store)
- Ella está conmigo (She is with me)
- Madrid está en España (Madrid is in Spain)

To describe a condition, emotion or feeling of a person or thing.
- Tú estás enfermo (You are sick)
- La puerta está cerrada (The door is closed)
- Luis está cansado (Luis is tired)
- La ventana está abierta (The window is open)

To form the present progressive
- Miguel está durmiendo (Miguel is sleeping)
- Ella está esperando (She is waiting)

SER or ESTAR differences

The choice of SER or ESTAR can determine the meaning of the sentence.
- El es aburrido He is boring (personality)
- El está aburrido He is bored (condition/feeling)
- Ella es nerviosa She is nervous (a nervous person)
- Ella está nerviosa She is nervous (at this moment)
- El es viejo He is old (age)
- El está viejo He looks old (today)
- La carne es buena The meat is good (in general)
- La carne está buena The meat is good (It tastes good right now)