Ser vs. Estar

Ser vs. estar - what is all of this about?

Welcome to our new blog! Since you’re here we can imagine that you’re facing some struggles with this (sometimes) annoying pair of verbs. Well, worry no more! On the following lines we will guide you through what we consider to be a useful and, maybe, different perspective of these two verbs and how to look at them from a different angle. As you may already know, at Bravo!  we don’t like to give just a list of grammatical issues with no further explanation than a few examples. We like to provide you with a full story telling you the logic behind these aspects so you can understand them and, therefore, learn them.

Let’s begin with a general approach to the core meaning of these special verbs:

Ser

Ser represents stability, essence, ideas that cannot be changed so easily or even at all! Take as an example a characteristic of your personality, like affectionate → cariñoso. This is part of your identity, of your essence, right? Therefore the need to use ser. It does not mean that this characteristic cannot change. However, it won’t be a sudden change, it will take time since it’s a deep change in the core of yourself.

Estar

On the other hand we can find estar. This verb represents change, surface, ideas that can be altered more easily, although it does not mean that they will. Take as an example your mood, like angry→ enfadado. This is normally not part of your personality, of your identity but rather a state, a temporary feeling. As a state or temporary feeling this should be fairly easily changeable, at least after a process that will not need a deep change but a more superficial one. Maybe after a talk or a couple of hours of thinking this feeling is completely gone. Therefore the need to use estar.

Uses of ser and estar

Having this distinction in mind, let’s have a thorough look at the uses of these verbs, in other words, at the cases when you need one verb or the other. There is a classification of their uses that we consider to be very helpful, you may already know it! We are talking about the acronyms “DOCTOR” and “PLACE”. Each letter of the acronym represents a use for one of the verbs. It’s a nice way to remember the cases!

Ser needs a DOCTOR! 

• Description: Here the more physical characteristics are included. For example, I will use ser to talk about my height → soy alto (I’m tall).

• Occupation: In line with describing my inner me we encounter this category. Here we have a great example of what it is an issue susceptible to change but rather slowly and through time. If I say somos enfermeros (we’re nurses) we are identifying ourselves with our profession. In this sense it is part of your identity, even if it’s for a certain length. When you want to become something else, for example teacher, then you will have to begin the process to prepare for it and by the time you achieve this goal this profession will also be part of your identity.
• Characteristics: Under this category we find the aspects referring more to the personality. For example, son honestas (they’re honest). This is a description of an aspect of someone's psyche. This is also eligible for changing, but again, if it happens it won’t be suddenly. 
• Time / date: When talking about time you may think, “hey, wait a minute, time and dates change constantly! How is it possible that we use ser to express these concepts?” And we will say to you that you have a point but that every culture sees and understands time and dates differently. If we think about this use we think about a cycle, time changes, yes, but repeats everyday. So does the year and therefore the perception of dates. For example, we will say hoy es miércoles y son las dos de la tarde (today is Wednesday and it’s two o’clock in the afternoon), and next week we will have the same situation again.
• Origin: Where are you from? Your nationality is something that it’s always gonna be with you, isn’t it? Even though you get another one and you have to renounce your first one officially, where you come from originally will remain the same. For example, we can express nationality soy española (I’m Spanish); we can also be more specific saying soy de Granada (I’m from Granada). In both cases the information given is the same, therefore ser is needed.

• Relationships / possessions: These two concepts are related and not. Let’s see. When talking about relationships we say esta es nuestra amiga María (this is our friend María). This doesn’t mean that María belongs to "us", it means that I consider María to be part of our life and the things we care about. On the other hand, if we talk about an object or a pet or a plant, we really mean that this thing is ours. For example, es tu libro (it’s your book), literally says that the book is your belonging. So, when talking about people we mean that the person it’s part of our lives. When talking about objects, animals and plants, we mean actual possession.

Estar can’t find its PLACE!

• Position: When we talk about location we can say something like estoy de pie (I’m standing). Then, the sense of changing the position it’s easy, right? I can just sit down and it’s completely something different within seconds.
• Location: Here we face a use that might create some confusion. Look at this sentence estoy en clase (I’m at class), we can quickly understand that this location can be changed instantly. So far so good. Think now about this other sentence Málaga está en España (Málaga is in Spain). Wait, is this not impossible to change? Well, at least it’s not very likely to change. After thinking about this use of the verb estar we picture it as if we were still living in a time where the cities could change their "belonging", the country they belong to, not the actual geographical location, for example, under the Roman Empire. Maybe Malaca was Roman in the 1st century, but history has shown us that this is actually changeable!
• Action: This is how the continuity of an action is expressed in Spanish. Let us show it: Estoy bailando (I’m dancing). When using this structure you’re expressing an ongoing action. Here is where the idea of change comes, you can just stop the activity and it will be something else.
• Condition / state: We will use this option when we want to express a feeling, mostly physical. For example está enfermo (he’s sick). Now, in this moment he feels this way, maybe after a good rest he will feel better. Thus, the idea behind is that the sickness condition it’s a state that will change, it won’t be permanent.
• Emotion / state: We can also express a mental state or a feeling and this will also be said using estar. Look at this example está triste (s/he’s sad), this is something that is expected and understood to be changed in a relatively short period of time. Therefore, estar is the right verb to use.

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