Mrs. Akers'
Spanish- 2 years
Ser vs Estar
Ser and Estar both mean "to be." It is used to describe how something is or what something is. Like the car is red. You use estar for a condition or when you are describing something that is not permanent, like an emotion.
Ser Conjugation
Soy
Eres
Es
Somos
Sois
Son
Estar Conjugation
Estoy
Estás
Está
Estamos
Estáis
Están
Examples:
El carro es rojo.
Since the car will always be red, you conjugate using ser. The car is singular and an object, not you, or me, so it would be conjugated in the third box.
Los plátanos están verde.
Because the bananas will not always be green, and it is not fully ripe yet, you would use estar. But since in this case, bananas is plural, and not describing we or our, you would use the sixth box.
Yo soy, Amanda.
You are introducing yourself. Since you are you, and that wouldn't change, you would use ser. You are saying "I am, Amanda," so you would conjugate using the first box.
Yo estoy aburrido.
Since I am bored, bored isn't a permanent state, so you would use estar. I am talking about me being bored, so I would use the first box, conjugation.
Estar+ ando/iendo
Saying you are doing something, eating with -ing you use estar+verb-ending+ando(-ar verb)/ iendo(-ir/-er verb)
Nosotros estamos limpiando.
Because it's saying we, you conjugate using the fourth box. Since cleaning in Spanish is limpiar, and it ends in an -ar, you change its ending to -ando. We are cleaning.
Yo estoy comiendo.
Since I am doing the action, it conjugates in the first box. And since the verb being used is comer(eating), and it ends in an -er, you take out the -er and add -iendo. I am eating.
Ellos están viviendo.
They would be conjugated in the sixth box and the verb is vivir(to live) ending in -ir, so just like an -er verb, you would conjugate it using- iendo. They are living.