We have “to be” in English. We have “ser” and “estar” in Spanish. Both verbs can be translated to English as “to be”.  So what’s the difference between ser vs estar? First, let’s review their conjugations with the ser and estar chart below.

We use “ser” to talk about things that are considered permanent and that don’t or won’t easily change. We use it to describe ourselves: to say who we are, what we look like, what we do, where we are from, our personality, etc.  We also use it to describe places and objects too.  The underlying reason we use “ser” though is always to describe intrinsic characteristics or qualities.  For example, if I describe someone as being friendly, it’s a quality they usually always have, even if they’re in a bad mood one day.  Or take a profession, it can change, over time, but not all of sudden. 

On the other hand… “Estar” is used to describe temporary states of being such as emotions, moods, conditions, and results of actions.  For instance, if I want to say, “the children are sad” because they lost their ball, I am going to use the verb “estar” because they are sad now for a particular reason – I don’t mean to say they are sad children all the time! (In which case, I’d use “ser” to describe them because this is an intrinsic personality trait and not a description of their current emotion). Likewise, we’d use “estar” to describe any kind of temporary condition or result of an action, for example, the door is open or the soup is hot. 

Remember, we also use “estar” to say where things and people are located too. 

Note: “estar” is also used as an auxiliary verb in the present continuous tenses.

Want to know more about “ser” and “estar”and their different uses? 

Now that you’ve reviewed the above examples, it’s time to take the ser vs estar quiz below. Good luck!

In this lesson, we’ve taught you a bit more about the difference between “ser” and “estar”.  Now you should know how to use “ser” to describe permanent, intrinsic qualities or characteristics, and “estar” to describe temporary states of being, like conditions, feelings, and results of actions.  With this lesson, you should be able to describe people, places and things using two of the most common verbs in Spanish.  Looking for other common verbs? Check out this lesson of the 45 most common verbs in Spanish.