Reference · module 22
Ser, estar and the verbs that pair up
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Es aburrido, está aburrido
Change the meaning of an adjective by choosing the verb.
- ser describes what something is; estar describes the state it is in. With many adjectives that is two different sentences.
- Es aburrido means he is a boring person. Está aburrido means he is bored right now. The adjective did not move.
- The same happens with listo, rico, verde, malo: ready or clever, tasty or wealthy, unripe or green, ill or wicked.
The mistake you are about to make
Soy listo, vamos.
Estoy listo, vamos.
"I am ready" gets the first "to be" available. Soy listo means "I am clever"; ready is estar: estoy listo.
The result of an action
Describe a state left behind by something that happened.
- estar plus a participle names the result: La puerta está cerrada. Somebody closed it, and this is how it stands now.
- Here the participle does agree, because it is working as an adjective: cerrada, rotos, abiertas.
- Compare with the perfect, where nothing agrees: Han cerrado la puerta reports the act; está cerrada reports the state.
The mistake you are about to make
La puerta está cerrado.
La puerta está cerrada.
In the perfect the participle never changes, and that habit carries over. After estar it is an adjective and agrees.
Saber and conocer
Choose between the two verbs for knowing.
- saber is for facts and for skills: Sé la respuesta. Sé nadar. It takes a whole clause or an infinitive after it.
- conocer is for being acquainted: Conozco a María. Conozco Madrid. It takes a person or a place, never a clause.
- Spanish splits several English verbs this way: pedir and preguntar, llevar and traer, ir and venir.
The mistake you are about to make
Sé a María.
Conozco a María.
English "know" covers facts and people. Spanish splits them: saber for facts, conocer for people and places.
Hay and está
Introduce something new or locate something known.
- hay introduces something the listener does not know about yet: Hay un banco en la esquina.
- estar locates something already known: El banco está en la esquina. The article gives the difference away: un against el.
- hay has one form for everything: Hay un libro. Hay diez libros. It never becomes han or hayan.
The mistake you are about to make
El banco hay en la esquina.
El banco está en la esquina.
Hay looks like the all-purpose "there is". For something already known, with el, the location takes estar.