Lesson 32: Using 'Ser' and 'Estar' to change meanings
Ser and Estar can often be used to create subtle or fundamental differences to a sentence. We'll see how in this lesson
At the end of the last lesson we saw how changing 'Estar for 'ser' can change the meaning of a sentence when asking about a person.
 Spanish |  English |
|---|---|
| ¿Comó estás? | How are you? (informal) |
| ¿Comó es? | How is he / what is he like? |
We'll see more of that now.
aburrido - Bored and Boring
In Spanish 'aburrido' can mean both "bored" and "boring" depending on how it us used but you can work out which by considering which one is a STATE and which one is a CHARACTERISTIC.
In English we use two different words, in Spanish we use one word but change its meaning with 'Estar or 'ser'.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Es aburrido | It is boring |
| Está aburrido | He is bored |
| Es aburrido | He is boring |
| Es aburrida | She is boring |
| Son aburridos | They are boring |
| Están aburridos | They are bored |
Obviously that makes it pretty easy to insult someone if you mix up your 'Estar and your 'ser' but we'll come to a work around in a moment.
De - from
'de' actually has all sorts of uses in Spanish including both "from" and "of" but we'll come to rules on these later. Right now we're going to use it to mean "from" and after you have been in a Spanish speaking country for less than a day you will never forget it because of the phrases.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿De dónde eres? | Where are you from? |
| ¿De dónde es? | Where is he from? |
| ¿De dónde son? | Where are they from? |
'Free' as a state or characteristic
There are a few words in English and in Spanish which could be states or characteristics - "Free" is one of them. In English we say "I am free" but it is not clear if we are talking about being "available" or about feeling a sense of "freedom".
Again in Spanish these English ambiguities are clearer thanks to 'Estar for 'ser'.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Estoy libre | I am free (available) |
| Soy libre | I am free (I feel free) |
If you want a sort of insurance to make sure you don't get things mixed up accidently you can use the Spanish word for "Person" - 'persona' - which, because it ends in 'a' we can be pretty confident is feminine.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Soy una persona libre | I am a free person |
'Persona' always goes with 'soy' because we are saying "I am a person" so you can be sure you are expressing a characteristic and using the right form of "to be".
Casado - Ser or Estar?
In most of the Spanish language it is clear what is a state ('estar') and what is a characteristic ('ser') but not always.
There are areas where Spanish speakers are not fully in agreement and one of those is with 'Casado' - "Married". Is it a state or a characteristic - depends who you ask!
Using 'Persona' makes it impossible to get this wrong.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Soy una persona casada | I am a married person |
And yes it is spelt 'Casada' here because 'Persona' is female, even if the person talking is male.
Incidently 'Casado' means (if directly translated) "Housed" so a very old sexist meaning that lives on!
Ocupado - Ser or Estar?
'Ocupado' sounds like "occupied" and basically it is but in Spanish it is used mostly to describe being "busy". We do say in English "I'm occupied with this" sometimes but more often we'll say "I'm busy with this".
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Estoy ocupado | I am busy (at the moment) |
But 'Soy ocupado' (or 'Soy ocupada' if you are a female) is actually bad Spanish when trying to say "I am generally busy". As a learner at this level its impossible to know these small exceptions and that is why 'persona' is so useful.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Soy una persona ocupada | I am a busy person |
And we always say 'Ocupada' regardless of whether we are male or female because 'persona' is feminine.
So also....
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Estamos ocupados | We are busy (at the moment) |
| Somos personas ocupadas | We are busy people |
Preocupado - Ser or Estar?
When we say we are "preoccupied" with something it usually means it is taking too much of our time and energy - and something that takes a lot of time and enery is being worried - which is what 'preocupado' means!
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Estoy preocupada | I am worried (at the moment) |
| Está preocupado | He is worried (at the moment) |
| Es una persona preocupada | He is a worried person |