When to Use SER or ESTAR in Spanish? Easy Way to Understand the Difference Between Ser and Estar

What's the difference between SER and ESTAR in Spanish. When do you have to use SER and when ESTAR? How do you choose? SER and ESTAR mean 'to be' in English and if you think choosing between something permanent or temporary, it will only confuse you more. Today I'll show you an easy way to understand the difference between SER and ESTAR in Spanish.
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[@Noah-yk2os]

Thank you, this was really helpful. I have a test tomorrow, so I am just reviewing, and this was perfect

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Muy bien! 🌟 ¡Un abrazo! ❤️

[@HolaSpanish]

👉Download the **Cheat Sheet**. It's a PDF with all notes and examples for this lesson: www.holaspanish.com.au/ser-o-estar/

[@kendallles]

This video was incredibly helpful in breaking down the difference. As a Spanish speaking learner I loved the sentence examples you used as well. Thanks so much ! Subscribed.

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Bienvenida al canal! ❤️ Siempre es un placer ayudar a mis estudiantes ¡Un abrazo!

[@quickjoy3461]

My teacher taught us “how you feel and where you are, always use the verb estar”

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Hola! Genial, perfecto ¡Un abrazo!

[@scobie0]

Muy claro, gracias

[@lloydsimmons700]

Thanks Romina, I need you to be my mentor.

[@angelomondesir3114]

Hello, teacher Brenda! How are you doing? I'd like you to give a Spanish class about the differences between theses Spanish verbs: " Ser y Estar " I'll be very glad about that.

[@dadensitydudes6771]

perfecto, gracias Romina

[@HolaSpanish]

¡De nada! 💖

[@jeanpaulosni256]

I'm learning very good with you

[@HolaSpanish]

Glad to hear that!!! That makes us areally happy here are Hola ♥

[@dano5663]

Muchas gracias por la gran leccion.

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Qué bueno que te ha gustado la clase! gracias a ti💗

[@norn6982]

MUY INDÉPENDANTE MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Muchas gracias a ti por ver la clase y por dejarnos tu comentario!

[@RancoKraaijenbrink]

Thank you for sharing its great resource and helpful for learning spanish

[@HolaSpanish]

Definitivamente es un tema muy útil. Ahora a ponerlo en práctica ❤️

[@karlabc9251]

Excellent video

[@chrisslark3239]

Gotta love Romi! 🥳 one day I will get this!

[@juleslamoureux2451]

Gracias Romali

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Gracias a ti por ver la clase! jajaj sí, mi nombre podría ser en vez de Romina Romaniello, Romali o Romiello jajaja 😂

[@antoniodelrey585]

Very good explanations!

[@HolaSpanish]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jasonpinson8755]

Si.gracias.

[@HolaSpanish]

Fantástico 😊

[@laminmarong5484]

Grazie mille per video

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Oh! ¡Muchas gracias a ti por ver la clase de hoy!

[@lloydsimmons700]

Eres una profesora excelente. Sigue haciendo el buen trabajo.

[@HolaSpanish]

Muchas gracias por tu comentario, lo aprecio mucho :)

[@lloydsimmons700]

@@HolaSpanish mi nombre es Lloyd Simmons y soy de San Vicente y las Granadinas, una nación inglesa que se encuentra al norte de Venezuela.

[@deboramoran5867]

Gracias, Romina! Soy Debora y estoy en Florida. Estoy tratando mejorar mi espanol. Usted y Brenda son profesoras excelentes!

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Muchas gracias por ver la clase Debora! Y saludos a toda Florida 😉

[@jeanpaulosni256]

Good work!!

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Muchas gracias por tus lindas palabras!

[@niccolowadia3761]

Hey Teach You R V. GOOD ..

[@katrinika11]

Buenas noches Romina y Brenada) Soy rusa, estoy en Peru. Su classes estan geniales, los disfruto muchissimo, gracias! Porque "estoy muerta", es un misterio... lo recordare seguro! No me sorprendería si me encontrara con esa expresión en países donde creen en la reencarnación)

[@jamesvenable1948]

Hola Romina gracias vivo en Texas tengo muchos amigos mexicanos

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Qué suerte James! Espero que puedas practicar tu español con ellos ¡Muchas gracias por ver esta clase!

[@mirabelq9358]

Muchismas gracias, estoy muy feliz. The last part was hilarious, Shakespeare 😉

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Es muy graciosos el final! jajaja me alegro que te haya gustado Mirabel ♥

[@iresrodrigues2692]

😮❤very good rasta pronto!

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Genial! Te espero en la próxima clase.

[@sl-su7hc]

Please make same video for past tense ( was/were)

[@HolaSpanish]

I did a video with the full explanation here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4TToZp4ZrBlnJY

[@cbsteffen]

“Ser” means “to be” in every sedentary sense while “estar” means “to be” in every sense that means some type of standing.

[@genasyde4323]

What?

[@user-cy2ns5gm7i]

Is it still “estar” for chronic/non-curable lifelong health conditions (e.g. asthma, cancer, a permanent disability, etc) ? ❤🙏🙏💕

[@user-cy2ns5gm7i]

Which verb to use to say “I’m a tourist” in Spanish? 🙏🙏

[@dariaignatenko3559]

💛

[@jeanpaulosni256]

Good afternoon

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Buenas tardes!

[@YOUSAF1254]

Muy bean

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Gracias por ver la clase!

[@lxnny2357]

Thanks. Great video. I learned a few new differences between ser and estar. However, I'll disagree with your point that using "permanent" vs. "temporary" aren't a great way to initially explain the difference between ser vs. estar b/c it's too abstract. The problem with not going with this intuition is that whenever you run into a seemingly new scenario, you won't have a method to make a "best guess". I'd argue that if you go with this basic rule, you'll likely be correct 9 times out of 10 and you'll clean up the few times you're wrong with exposure to the language. And in most cases where you get it wrong you'll still be understood. That being said, I'd like to clarify the verbiage. I think, more precisely that ser is used to refer to "innate characteristics of someone/something", while estar is used to refer to "transitory states of a someone/something". This leaves the question, what about the seemingly exceptional cases? I'd argue that the confusion here is usually due to one of the following: (1) Differences between the language learner's current language and Spanish (2) Differences between the original context of ser/estar and our current notions of permanent/temporary

[@lxnny2357]

Here are some examples to explain how this clears up areas of confusion: (a) What about death? Why estar? -- Death isn't an innate characteristic of a thing--it's a transitory state. There once was a point in time where a person was alive. In fact, when you refer to them, you will often refer to them in their living state, b/c nothing meaningful happens after their death in most cases. This falls under (1). (b) What about careers? Why ser? -- This is likely falls under (2), because by today's standards, people change career often, so it's confusing to think of this as a "ser" case. However, if you look into the past, careers weren't as transitory. In fact, in a lot of cultures, a person's career was so wrapped up into their identity, that it was treated as their name. For instance, in English we have people whose last names are: Tailor, Shoemaker, Blacksmith, etc. In a town, you would be known as John, the Blacksmith--hence, John Blacksmith. Your children would take part in the family trade and the skills would be passed down for generations. Again, hence (2). If the notion of a career came into being today, it's possible that "estar de" would have been more common. (c) Names? Why ser? Today, we think of a name as something you can just go and get changed with the government, but I'd argue that your name is an innate characteristic. Just as we have a thing called a telephone, we have a person called Selena Quintanilla. /So I'd argue that this one isn't an exception. (d) Nationality? Why ser? Today, your nationality is changeable--just fill out the proper paperwork and meet the other various requirements and you can change your nationality. One day, "Soy americano" and the next, "soy italiano". However, this is likely a (2) case. In the past, your original nationality tended to follow you, despite being a resident of a new nation. This can be observed in some old texts. It's not a massive one to misunderstand however, b/c for the vast majority of people, this remains true--you either (1) never change your nationality or (2) deep down still maintain some ties to your origin. e.g. if you meet a Jamaican person that moved to the US permanently, they'll likely still refer to themselves as "Jamaican", because they moreso identify with being Jamaican, whereas a person who is born in the US but both their parents are Jamaican would likely be 50/50 on whether to refer to themselves as Jamaican or American, depending on the context of the situation. There's something innate there. (e) Religion? Why ser? This is definitely a (2) case. If the concept of religion was created today, it's possible that it would use "estar (de)" because people change it often enough that it's not necessarily "permanent". However, I'd argue that it would likely still use ser b/c of how meaningful people's world view is to them. They'd likely feel so strongly that using estar here would be seen as reductive. (f) Moral attributes/physical traits? Why ser? I'd say this is explainable within the framework, b/c it's looking at innate characteristics. (g) Place/date? Why ser? An event scheduled at 4pm is happening at 4pm--therefore that is an innate characteristic of the event. But why estar for other situations with locations--I agree that this is a confusing case--so this one kind of just needs to be memorized tbh. However, getting it wrong (h) Emotions? Why ser sometimes/estar sometimes? You explained this part perfectly and it still fits into the model. (i) Why doesn't hunger/thirst/age use ser? Why not even estar? So, I tried putting in "I am hungry" to google translate and it said "Estory hambriento"--which is interesting, b/c I've never heard anyone say this. However, it at least illustrates the point that hunger/thirst/age aren't innate characteristics of things, but are instead transitory. However, the issue is that Spanish speakers say "Tengo hambre" and "Tengo 30 años". For the hunger case, they're using tener b/c you're technically saying "I have hunger"--b/c hambre is a noun. "Yo tengo sed"--I have thirst. You can technically speak like this in english too, but it's awkward, b/c no one really talks like that, but you would be understood. On the note of age--I like to think of it like this: Tengo 30 años(de edad)--I have (reached) 30 years (of age). You can say this in english, but it's uncommon. We do say something similar in other scenarios in english however--which emphasizes my point here: "My car HAS 30k miles (on it)", which I'm guessing in spanish would be Mi carro TIENE 30k millas (en el)".

[@sergiykravchuk]

The first link not working

[@chebron1925]

Gracias por la lession pero la Plata es muy complicado. Lol

[@joshman426]

La leccion fue muy buena. Estoy en Seattle, no estoy gordo y no soy muy alto pero estoy muy guapo. Jajaja.

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Fantástico! ¡Muy buen trabajo! Gracias por practicar en los comentarios. Pequeña corrección: pero soy muy guapo. (Estar guapo significa to look good right now).

[@joshman426]

Thank you, one day I will get it correct. I will keep trying, and I will continue to watch your lessons, muchas gracias.

[@tompeled6193]

"México _está_ ubicado al sur de los EEUU." Pregunta: La ubicación de México es permanente; México no puede ponerse en algún otro lugar como el Océano Indio. ¿Por qué usamos _estar_ en este caso y no _ser_ ? Contestación: Ubicación (excepción: la ubicación de un evento), si permanente o no, es _estar_ .

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Exactamente! Por eso aprender que ser es permanente y estar es temporal puede ser confuso.

[@LEGIONARIO1970]

O tambien esta el otro caso cuando decimos "El edificio es grande" nunca decimos "esta" aunque el tamaño sea un condición permanente tenemos que usar el SER. Así que en realidad hay varias excepciones.

[@dominickmaone]

Where you been?

[@HolaSpanish]

Romi is mostly doing lessons and content for my online program at the moment, but every now and then she'll be back here in the channel too. I hope you say hi when you get to see her. Isn't she amazing? I love her teaching style ♥

[@chebron1925]

Lo siento. Ser es muy compiado

[@belalmhijjawe6477]

realmente tú eres muy guapa 😄

[@nalinfernando8701]

Eres simpatica siempre y estas muy guapa hoy :) Soy Nalin de Sri Lanka y guia turistio, hablo ingles y espanol (mas o menos). Muchisimas gracias por todos sus lecciones de espanol y les me ayudan muchisimo. esta es mi pagina de FB : facebook.com/travelwithnalin !Que tengas dia genial! Salud!!

[@naihong8644]

No no Romina, 15 pesos ni un caramelo,el precio de cerveza es 1500pesos😂😂😂

[@chriswesley594]

I love your stuff, and I know you have to make your living with ads, but so many ads in the middle of your videos is grim. No need to reply. You've made your decisions. This is just an item of feedback about my personal opinion.

[@HolaSpanish]

¡Thank you so much for your feedback, Chris! I understand what you mean, hopefully you were still able to enjoy the class. I totally understand where you're coming from and we'll keep your feedback in mind for future lessons. It is important to point out that, unfortunately, revenue is necessary to continue to create great free content. But please rest asure we deeply care about your experience and we value your opinion. ¡Gracias por ver la clase!

[@chriswesley594]

@@HolaSpanish Of course. I'm not complaining about ANY ads - I have a channel and it has ads - making videos is a huge amount of work and we all need money to lvie. It's the ones in the middle which, to me, really stink things up. Anyhoo - you're SO good, that I'll eat them and be anice quiet boy :o)))

[@kendallles]

This video was incredibly helpful in breaking down the difference. As a Spanish speaking learner I loved the sentence examples you used as well. Thanks so much ! Subscribed.

[@HolaSpanish]

Bienvenida al canal ❤️ Es un placer ayudarte a mejorar tu español. ¡Un abrazo! ¡Sigue así!