Estar is by far one of the most common verbs in the Spanish language. It usually translates to the English verb "to be", but there is a bit of a catch.
If you already know some Spanish, you might be wondering about the difference between estar and ser. You're not alone, this difference is one of the trickiest for English learners.
You can learn more about ser in this article. Estar, on the other hand, is used in the following contexts:
- Position: Estoy acostada (I'm lying down).
- Location: La escuela está lejos (The school is far away).
- Actions (ongoing): ¿Qué estás haciendo? (What are you doing?)
- Conditions (physical and mental): Estoy cansado (I'm tired)/Está loco (He's crazy).
- Emotions: Juana está emocionada (Juana is excited).
The acronym PLACE is often used to remember these uses of estar.
Conjugations
As you might expect from such a common verb, estar is irregular, but there is good news. In some tenses, like the imperfect, the future and the conditional, the conjugation of estar is regular, so learning to conjugate this verb is not as hard as it might seem. Take a look at the following tables and examples to see this for yourself.
Present
| Yo | estoy | Nosotros/Nosotras | estamos |
| Tú (Vos) | estás | Vosotros/Vosotras | estáis |
| Él/Ella/Usted | está | Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | están |
Examples:
- Mis padres están enojados. - My parents are angry.
- ¿Cómo estás? - How are you?
Imperfect
| Yo | estaba | Nosotros/Nosotras | estábamos |
| Tú/Vos | estabas | Vosotros/Vosotras | estabais |
| Él/Ella/Usted | estaba | Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | estaban |
Examples:
- El café estaba muy caliente. - The coffee was very hot.
- En esa época estaba más flaco. - Back then I was thinner.
Preterite
| Yo | estuve | Nosotros/Nosotras | estuvimos |
| Tú/Vos | estuviste | Vosotros/Vosotras | estuvisteis |
| Él/Ella/Usted | estuvo | Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | estuvieron |
Examples:
- Estuve enfermo por tres días. - I was sick for three days.
- Diana estuvo conmigo toda la tarde. - Diana was with me all afternoon.
Future
| Yo | estaré | Nosotros/Nosotras | estaremos |
| Tú/Vos | estarás | Vosotros/Vosotras | estaréis |
| Él/Ella/Usted | estará | Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | estarán |
Examples:
- Estaré aquí esperándote. - I will be here waiting for you.
- ¿Dónde crees que estaremos en 5 años? - Where do you think we'll be in 5 years?
Conditional
| Yo | estaría | Nosotros/Nosotras | estaríamos |
| Tú/Vos | estarías | Vosotros/Vosotras | estaríais |
| Él/Ella/Usted | estaría | Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | estarían |
Examples:
- De no ser por ti, no estaría aquí. - I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you
- El equipo estaría feliz si ganara. - The team would be happy if they won.
Estar will pop up in conversation all the time, so it's worth taking the time to learn how to use it. Once you do, you can move on to learn even more irregular Spanish verbs.
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By YourDictionary
Estar is by far one of the most common verbs in the Spanish language. It usually translates to the English verb "to be", but there is a bit of a catch.
