Ser vs Estar

In this post we are going to talk about one of the most common problems Spanish students come up with. That is when to use the verb ser and when to use the verb estar. Both of those verbs in other language just have one meaning, as it happens in English where we know the verb “to be”. Ser vs estar in Spanish have different uses and we’ll check some of the uses in this post. Continue reading if you want to learn more about it.

First, let’s start with estar conjugation and ser conjugation in present simple tense.

YO	Estoy
TÚ	Estás
ÉL / ELLA	Está
NOSOTROS	Estamos
VOSOTROS	Estáis
ELLOS	Están

YO	Soy
TÚ	Eres
ÉL / ELLA	Es
NOSOTROS	Somos
VOSOTROS	Sois
ELLOS	Son

Ser vs estar in Spanish causes headaches not only to beginners but also to more advanced students. The problem is not only about learning when to use each one of them and to express feelings, states or location, but it also changes its meaning whether an adjective is used with ser or with estar. Therefore, it is not the same to say “estar listo” or “ser listo”, neither it’s the same saying “estar aburrido” o “ser aburrido” or “es. Different uses of ser vs estar in Spanish can be found below.  

Uses of ser

In general, the verb ser is used to talk about permanent or lasting attributes. If that’s too vague for you, you can help yourself remembering an acronym DOCTOR which stands for Descriptions, Occupations, Characteristics, Time, Origin and Relationships.

D O C T O R

Descriptions

We use ser when describing things that probably won’t change anytime soon, for example names, physical characteristics, nationalities and ever religions.

Yo soy Juana. (I am Juana.)

José es alto y rubio. (José is tall and blonde.)

Ella es cristiana y es muy religiosa. (She is a Cristian and she is very religious.)

Occupations

When talking about someone’s job / profession or hobbies we use the verb ser.

Ella es profesora. (She is a teacher.)

Juan y Ana son estudiantes. (Juan and Ana are students.)

Elisa es bailarina. (Elisa is a ballerina.)

Characteristics

We use the verb ser with personal descriptions.

Lucas es amable, extrovertido e inteligente. (Lucas is kind, outgoing and intelligent.)

Mi novia es cariñosa y romántica. (My girlfriend is caring and romantic.)

Time

When talking about hours, dates, days, month and so on we use the verb ser.

Hoy es sábado. (Today is Saturday.)

Son las siete de la tarde. (It’s 7pm.)

Mañana es mi cumpleaños. (Tomorrow’s my birthday.)

Origin

When we refer to where one is from or what a thing is made of, we use the verb ser.

Julia es de España, pero vive en Inglaterra. (Julia is from Spain, but she lives in England.)

Esta mesa es de madera. (This table is made of wood.)

Este chocolate debe de ser de Ecuador porque está muy rico. (This chocolate must be from Ecuador because it’s very tasty.)

Relationships

Personal relationships, such as family ties, romantic relationships, friendships or any other kind of relationships are also used with the verb ser.

Rodrigo es mi hermano. (Rodrigo is my brother.)

Yolanda es mi jefa, pero es muy maja. (Yolanda is my boss, but she’s very nice.)

Ellos son novios. (They are a couple.)

Uses of estar

If we use the verb ser for permanent attributes, the verb estar is used to indicate temporary states and locations. Besides, we can help ourselves with the with the word LoCo, which stands for Locations and Conditions.

Locations

With locations we refer to a physical location of someone or something permanently, temporarily or conceptually. Furthermore, We also refer with it to a physical position or posture of someone or something and to describe it we use the verb estar.

Conditions

The verb estar is used with mental or physical conditions and also to express emotions.

Ser vs estar with adjectives

The meaning of one sentence can change a whole lot if you make a mistake and instead of using estar you use ser and viceversa. We’ll check some of the meaning below.

Estar aburrido (to be bored) / Ser aburrido (to be boring)

Estoy aburrido porque esta clase es aburrida. (I am bored because this class is boring.)

Estar listo (to be ready) / Ser listo (to be intelligent)

Mario es listo, pero no está listo para este examen porque no estudió lo suficiente. (Mario is intelligent, but he is not ready for the exam because he didn’t study enough.

Estar malo (to be sick) / Ser malo (to be bad)

Alejandro es una mala persona y además ahora está malo. (Alejandro is a bad person and now he’s sick.)

Estar rico (to be tasty) / Ser rico (to be rich)

Está muy rico este pescado. Él se lo puede permitir porque es rico. (It’s very tasty this fish. He can afford it because he’s rich.)

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