Today, we are talking about a very important, and usually very confusing topic for the Spanish newcomer...that is, the Spanish verbs SER and ESTAR.
In grammatical terms, these are the equivalents of the verb, "TO BE," in English.
For newcomers to Spanish, and even those who have studied Spanish before, the struggle is real when trying to decide which Spanish word to use when saying, "to be" in the present moment, or in the past.
By that, I mean things like this in English...
"I am, I was...," or, "I have been..."
"You are, You were...," or "You have been..."
"We are, We were...," or "We have been..."
"They are, They were,..." or "They have been...."
etc., etc., etc,.
Spanish has its equivalents in the verbs SER and ESTAR, but it is a complex subject and it takes time, and experience with listening and speaking, to sort it out.
So don't stress if these things baffle you at first! Just keep plugging away and it will come.
Now, lets see what it's all about - - -
SER and ESTAR in the Present Tense
We will start with the present tense, because that's how most instructionals get you thinking in everyday conversational mode. I will also be presenting some basic grammatical concepts which you've probably forgotten; things like, "the person," or, "the tense/mood."
All language learning uses these common labels, so just absorb these things as they come up.
In English, we really only have only one form of the present tense, or "mood" (state of being) for the verb, "TO BE."
And in the present tense, it only has two simple changes, or conjugation shifts, as shown here:
English
I am ... < --- conjugation shift (1st person sing)
You are (2nd person sing) He/she/it is....< -- conjugation shift (3rd person sing) We are (1st person plural) You are ( 2nd person plural) l.... They are (3rd person plural))
In English, the simple past tense is similar, with only a couple of conjugation changes:
I was < - - conjugation shift (1st person, sing) You were (2nd person sing) He/she/it was < - - comjugation shift (3rd person sing) We were (1st person plural)
You were (2nd person plural) They were (3rd person plural)
This is nice for English speakers (and English learners), as this stays constant, and there isn't much to remember when it comes to expressing present tenses of, "to be," or, states of being (moods).
Well....Spanish has TWO forms of, "to be" - SER an ESTAR - in the present tense. That looks like this:
Spanish
SER
Yo - soy = I am
(1st person, sing) Tu - eres = You are (2nd person sing) El/ella/Usted - es = he/she/it/you formal (3rd person sing) Nostros - somos = we are (1st person plural)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes - son = they/You formal (2nd and 3rd persons plural)
Now play close attention to two important points, here...
.
1. Spanish combines the 2nd and 3rd persons plural verb forms. The plural forms for, "They," and "You, ("ellos/ellas, ustedes") are shared. It seems a little weird, but it is essentially the same as for English and is actually simpler.
2. Notice that none of the conjugated forms are the same for SER, because the stem of the verb, SER, has completely changed in this present tense conjugation.
Why? Becasue SER is an IRREGULAR verb - and Spanish has a lot of them. Sometimes both the stem AND the endings change, as we see with SER...which is why they are IRREGULAR. To make matters more challenging, there may be no concrete pattern to these conjugation changes, so you have to learn each one separately.
This is another thing you must grasp as you learn Spanish, and the topic of IRREGULAR verbs can fill several chapters in a book. For now, just understand that it is happening.
ESTAR
Yo - estoy = "I am..."
Tu - estas = "You are
El/ella/Usted - esta = "He/she/it is..." Nosotros - estamos = "We are..."
Ellos/ellas/Ustedes - estan = "They are/You (plural) ..."
Here you'll note that ESTAR differs from SER, in that it has mostly retained its root letters, i.e., "esta -" ... but the endings have changed. "Estoy," is the one exception, and its not a profound change.
Im tempted to call ESTAR a REGULAR verb, but technically it isnt because of that, "-oy" shift in the first person.
In Spanish, regular verbs tend to retain their root letters, and only the endings change to indicate the tense or mood.a If that made even a littles sense to you - your learning Spanish!
Okay, why are there two different verbs for the same job?
Because each has its own unique use, or function, to convey action.
SER - the first of the two, SER, indicates states of being - "I am," "you are," "we are," etc. - that are constant and not subject to change. Examples
"I am an American"..."Soy Americano"
"You are tall"..."Eres alto"
"We are what we are"... "Somos lo que somos"
ESTAR
On the other hand, the verb, ESTAR, is used to describe states of being that are temporary, or that may change.
Examples
"I am happy"... "Estoy feliz"
"You are crazy" ... "Estas cansada"
"We are in town "... "Estamos en pueblo"
If this is the first time you have been exposed to this idea of multiple verb forms, don't be alarmed - a lot of languages use this arrangement. It happens in English, too, as we've seen, but English speakers learning Spanish have to really adapt to it. Its complex, and that takes time, so just understand that is part of the language and absorb this information for the time being.
If you have studied Spanish before, you know that this is happening... and you may still have problems with it. So this is an opportunity to refresh your mind.
=== ===
PAST TENSE... and The Elephant in the Room
Now, let's look at the past tense of TO BE, in Spanish.
As you may have suspected by now, both SER and ESTAR have their own forms for expressing actions or moods in the past tense.
In fact, each has TWO forms, for a total of FOUR different verb forms to express the past tense of TO BE.
While at first this seems complicated - and compared to English, it is - it is also precise, and you can usually tell who is the focus of the sentence just by the conjugated verb form used.
Now, for the Elephant in the Room.
The problem is, all this requires you to learn and remember how to use a great many specific conjugation forms for each person in speech.
And that is the norm for all of Spanish verbs, which is why SER and ESTAR are usually the first verbs we learn. They both form the backbone for everyday conversation, and once you get the hang of conjugating them, you are on the way to adapting this method to all Spanish verbs.
PS If it helps, even native Spanish speakers struggle with this part of thier own language!
So, as an English-speaking learner of Spanish, you not only have to figure out whether to use SER or ESTAR in either the present tense, or the past tense, but you have multiple forms for each each!
For the moment, take a breather, and let all that sink in.
Then we'll have a look at expressing the past tense forms of, SER and ESTAR.
Okay - ready?
SER in the past tense
The verb, SER, in Spanish has two different past tense conjugations, depending on the context: "era" and "fui."
era To help us keep things organized in our minds, we can say that, "era" is the Spanish equivalent of, "used to be."
In grammatical terms, it's called the, "past imperfect" tense, and it's used when the mentioned state of being in the past was permanent, or didn't change.
Examples - "era"
> "¿Ustedes eran compañeros en la universidad?" - "Were you (plural) classmates at college?"
> "El evento era la semana pasada pero se canceló." - "The event (singular) was last week, but it was cancelled."
The conjugation table for this first form of SER, the past imperfect, looks like this:
Yo - era = I was
Tú - eras = you were
Él/Ella/Usted - era = they/you formal were
Nosotors - eramos = we were
Ellos/ellas/Ustedes - eran = They You plural were
---- ----- fui
The other form of SER in the past tense, is, "fui."
In grammtical lingo, it is known as the "preterite," or, "past simple," tense. And it can be translated simply as, "was".
As this implies, it's used for one-time things that happened in the past.
Examples - fui...
- "Fui muy feliz durante ese viaje." - "I was very happy during that trip."
- "Ellos fueron muy amables conmigo." - "They were very kind to me." Fui, the preterite, (or past simple) tense of SER conjugates this way:
Yo - fui = I was
Tu - fuiste = You were
El/ella/Ud. - fue = he/she/it You formal was
Nosotros- fuimos = we were
Ellos/ellas/Uds. - fueron = They/You plural were
ESTAR in the past tense Just like with SER, we likewise have two different ways to express ESTAR in the past: "estaba" and "estuve." While there is a subtle difference between them, for our purpose, they essentially mean the same thing.
Basically, we use estuve* (simple past) when our being somewhere in the past is the central idea that we want to communicate.
We use, estaba* (imperfect past) when we are setting the scene or talking about something that we did in the past, maybe repeatedly. Confusing? Let's see some examples: Estuve en clase toda la mañana. - I was in class all morning. Estaba dormido cuando me llamaste. - I was asleep when you called me. La última vez que las vi, estaban sobre la mesa. - Last time I saw them, they were on the table. ¿Cuándo estuviste en Roma? - When were you in Rome?
The first way the imperfect past tense of, ESTAR, conjugates is like this: - yo estuve = "I was"
- tú estuviste = "you were"
- el/ella/es/usted estuvo = "he/she/you (formal) were"
- nosotros/nosotras estuvimos = "we were"
- ellos/ellas/ustedes estuvieron = "they/you (plural formal) were"
Now, here's the other way the imperfect past tense conjugates for ESTAR...
yo - estaba
tu - estabas el/ella/Ud. - estaba nosotros - estabamos ellos/ellas/Uds - estaban
* Notice the roots have stayed the same in these forms: "estu-" and "esta-."
However, the endings shown here have changed to indicate the tense.
In English, we would say, "I was.." or, "they were..." But Spanish uses the stem PLUS a conjugation change for the same meaning.
This kind of conjugation change is the norm for Spanish and gives the "clues," to tell you WHO or WHAT the verb is acting upon. This is a VERY important thing to get in your mind. And there you have it! Hopefully after reading this (and studying it alot), you'll be able to differentiate between these different ways to express actions in the present and the past in Spanish.
The next portion I'll be working on - Part 2 - includes some more details on this in application, and some exercises to help lock it down. For now, you simply cannot get too much of this topic if you want to speak Spanish. So, to see even more examples the different ways to conjugate these words, check out the Baselang blog post, here: Ser and Estar Past Tense: Explained for Real-World Use.
References
1. This page enhanced from a basic Baselang FB post.
2. "The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice Guide - Mastering Spanish Grammar for Confident Communication"
Passport Books, ISBN 0-658-0075-6 |
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