"To Be" - Our First Spanish Verbs Ser and Estar

The first verb in English that we probably learned and started utilizing without any realization must have been "is", simply because it could describe everything in our world at that time. For example, our first sentences were probably "Mommy is pretty" or "The teacher is nice", or "Cabbage Patch Dolls are neat". What we DIDN'T realize though was that "is", "are", and "was" were actually VERBS.

This is true in Spanish as well, except they use 2 different verbs for different instances. (They actually use three verbs to denote "is", but we're going to keep this simple!) The first verb that I think I was actually taught was ser, which means "to be". The conjugation in the present tense indicative is quite irregular, due to the fact that it is probably the most common verb in the language.

yo soy
tú eres
él, ella, Ud. es
nosotros somos
vosotros sois
ellos, ellas, Uds. son

We can use the verb ser to describe things that are permanent, like a)physical characteristics, b)place of origin, and c)nationality.

Nosotros somos altos. We are tall.
Ella es de los Países Bajos. She is from the Netherlands.
Yo soy canadiense. I am Canadian.

The verb ser is also used when talking about the time, or stating somebody's career.

Ella es profesora de matemáticas en la Universidad. She is a University mathematics professor.
Son las 3 de la tarde. It is 3 in the afternoon.

The verb estar means the exact thing to an English speaker as ser, which is to be, but has different uses in the Spanish world. We use this verb to discuss something transitive or temporary. We use the verb estar to talk about 1)location of someone or something, 2)temporary conditions, or 3)as part of a gerund statement.

Ella está en Bolivia. She is in Bolivia.
Nosotros estamos enfermos hoy. We are sick today.
Yo estoy ayudando a Paco. I am helping Paco.

The complete cojugation of estar is as follows:

yo estoy
tú estás
él, ella, Ud. está
nosotros estamos
vosotros estáis
ellos, ellas, Uds. están

This might be your first foray into the world of accent marks, and if it is, you'll need to start using them right away, as they are present for the verb estar. You will notice later on in the course of your studies that accents sometimes are the only way to distinguish between words that are spelled the same but have different meanings altogether.

¡Sigue estudiando!

Professor Joel