SER or ESTAR Flashcards
5 main uses of SER
Description Occupation Time Nationality Relationship
3 main uses of ESTAR
Location
Action (present continuous)
Temporary condition
Description
Essential qualities that define a person and probably won’t change. They can be a name or a physical description
Description - I am tall, dark-skinned and thin.
Yo soy alta, morena y delgada
Description - Amelia is intelligent, daring and friendly
Amalia es inteligente, atrevida y amable
Description - My husband is romantic and caring
Mi esposo es romantico y carinoso
Occupation
Seen as life-long careers and are therefore seen as more “permanent” than many people would think in the United States
Occupation - I am a spanish teacher
Soy profesora del espanol
Occupation - they are students
ellos son estudiantes
Occupation - My father was a gardener
Mi padre era jardinero
Time
Includes days, dates and hours. For hours, use es for one o’clock and son for all other hours
Time - today is wednesday
Hoy es miercoles
Time - Yesterday was my birthday
Ayer fue mi cumpleanos
Time - Right now it’s one thirty
Ahora es la una y media
Time - It’s five twenty five
Son las cinco y veintecinco
Nationality
As the place a person is from or the material somethings is made from is not going to change we use SER or origin
Nationality - Celia is from Spain
Celia was de Espana
Nationality - Adela is Peruvian
Adela es peruana
Nationality - My ring is gold
My anillo es de oro
Relationship
Even after someone dies or someone breaks up, relationships are described using SER
Religion is a relationship
Relationship - Lynne is my mother
Lynne es mi madre
Relationship - Marcos is my ex-boyfriend
Marcos es mi ex-novio
Relationship - Andres is Catholic
Andres es catolico
General ESTAR rule
Used to indicate temporary states and locations. If the general rule doesn’t suffice, think of the acronym PLACE (position, location, action, condition, and emotion)
Location
Location of someone or something describes where it is permanently, temporarily, actually or cenceptually
Location - The bathroom is to the right of the living room
El bano esta a la derecha de la sala
Location - We are at the cafe right now and we will be at the movie theatre in 20 minutes
Estamos en el cafe ahore y estaremos en el cine en 20 minutos
Location - My grandfather is out of it / lost
Mi abuelo esta en la luna
Action (present continuous)
ESTAR is used to describe an ongoing action using the present progressive tense
Action - I am washing the dirty dishes
Estoy lavando los platos sucios
Action - We are reading the newspapers
Estamos leyendo los periodicos
Action - My great-grandfather is dead
Mi bisabuelo esta muerto
Temporary condition
Physical and mental conditions are described using ESTAR
Temporary condition - I am so tired this morning
Estoy tan cansada esta manana
Temporary condition - My children are sick today
Mis ninos estan enfemos hoy
Temporary condition - My mother is acting a little crazy
Mi madre esta un poca loca
Temporary condition - I am sad
Estoy triste
Temporary condition - She is happy because she received some flowers from her boyfriend
Ella esta contenta porque recibio una flores de su novio
