What it IS!

Day 5: All the ways to say "is" (and "am" and "are")

On day 4, I explained a little bit about the differences between the two Spanish "to be" verbs, "ser" and "estar", and gave some examples of ways to use "es" (from ser) and "está" (from estar).

"Es" and "está" will allow you to talk about what outsiders ARE: i.e, what "he", "she", and "it" IS and what "you (outsider(s))" ARE.

What if you want to talk about what "we" are, or what "they" are, or "I" am, or "you (insider)" are? Well, then you will need to learn a little more Spanish.

This table presents, in bold text, the main personal subject pronouns of the Spanish language:

	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	yo (I)	nosotros, nosotras (we)
II. INSIDERS	tú (you [e.g., friend, child, coworker])	vosotros, vosotras (you guys, y'all)
III. OUTSIDERS	él (he), ella (she), usted (you [e.g., boss, stranger])	ellos (they), ellas (they), ustedes (you guys, y'all)

I say "main" personal subject pronouns because there is one missing here. In many countries of Latin America, the word "tú" is replaced by "vos" (which is not the same as vosotros!!!; it is the "same" as tú). If you plan to travel to Central America or Argentina, you will need to learn how to use vos instead of tú. We'll talk about vos later, but it is important to hear about it now.

Notice that there are two columns in these tables. The singular column is for when you are talking about one person or thing; the plural column is for when you are talking about more than one person or thing.

I used to struggle to explain why "you" shows up in both the second row and in the third row of these tables. The table rows are traditionally labeled "1st person", "2nd person", and "3rd person", which is what you will see everywhere else, but to me it doesn't make sense that what is strictly "2nd person" in English (the word "you") should show up as both "2nd person" and "3rd person" in Spanish! Not much fun to teach something that nonsensical, either. (I do understand the historical reasons, so don't e-mail me about those. I get it.)

I am hoping that my new classification will make more sense to you:

The first row is for talking about yourself (either alone (yo [I]), or with others (nosotros, nosotras [we])).

The second row is for talking to people who are close to you (and whom you are talking to directly) (your friend(s), your family member(s), your coworker(s), etc.)

The third row is for talking about people or things in some way not close to you, like those people or things "over there" whom you are not talking to directly (he, she, it, they) or the stranger/superior/outsider you are talking to (your boss, a client, someone much older than you).

So no longer 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, but:

I. oneself
II. insiders (when you are talking directly to them)
III. outsiders.

This next table shows the ways to "conjugate" (change) the verb "ser" depending on who or what is being described:

SER (to be)	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	soy	somos
II. INSIDERS	eres	sois
III. OUTSIDERS	es	son

Pronunciations:
SOY, SOH-mohs
EH-rehs, SOYSS
EHSS, SOHN

And here is a similar table for the verb "estar":

ESTAR (to be)	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	estoy	estamos
II. INSIDERS	estás	estáis
III. OUTSIDERS	está	están

Pronunciations:
ehs-TOY, ehs-TAH-mos
ehs-TAHSS, ehs-T"EYE"SS
ehs-TAH, ehs-TAHN


If you copy down or print out these three tables and compare them to anything written in Spanish, you should find many of these words, especially the ser and estar conjugations, almost everywhere you look.

Here are those three tables again, without all the intervening text:

	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	yo (I)	nosotros, nosotras (we)
II. INSIDERS	tú (you [e.g., friend, child, coworker])	vosotros, vosotras (you guys, y'all)
III. OUTSIDERS	él (he), ella (she), usted (you [e.g., boss, stranger])	ellos (they), ellas (they), ustedes (you guys, y'all)

SER (to be)	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	soy	somos
II. INSIDERS	eres	sois
III. OUTSIDERS	es	son

ESTAR (to be)	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	estoy	estamos
II. INSIDERS	estás	estáis
III. OUTSIDERS	está	están

To be or to be

Day 4: The two "to be" verbs, ser and estar

An American president once famously said, "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." Maybe he studied Spanish, because that is something every Spanish speaker and Spanish language-learner has to consider almost anytime they open their mouth to speak.

In Spanish, there are two ways to say 'is':

If you are talking about how something is at the moment (some impermanent state that it is going through) or where it is, then the 'to be' verb to use is the verb 'estar' and the translation of 'is' is 'está'.

If you are talking about what something is like (some permanent or inherent characteristic of that thing), then the 'to be' verb to use is the verb 'ser' and the translation of 'is' is 'es'.

Su objetivo es alcanzar la paz.
His goal is to achieve peace.
His goal is what it is (it's not going to change), so 'es'.

Es neurocirujano.
He is a neurosurgeon.
That is what he is fundamentally, so 'es'.

El virus es similar a los virus H5N1.
The virus is similar to the H5N1 viruses.
It's similarity is not something about it that will be changing, so 'es'.

Está muy arrepentido.
He is very sorry.
This is about how he is feeling, not about a permanent personal characteristic, so 'está'.
(The distinction between permanent personal characteristics [es] and temporary feelings [está] can be demonstrated with the word 'aburrido': "Ella está aburrida" means that "She is bored" [at the moment] and "Ella es aburrida" means that "She is boring" [always].)


El caso está en un 70% resuelto.
The case is 70% solved.
That is where the case is at the moment, so 'está'. (It might be simpler to think of 'estar' [and therefore 'está'] as describing the state of something in space or in time.)

No está de ánimo para celebrar el Año Nuevo.
She is not feeling like celebrating the New Year.
Again, something changeable (her feeling), so 'está'.

Your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to go find some Spanish somewhere and see how many times you can see the words 'es' or 'está'. Sometimes you might even be able to understand enough of the rest of the sentence to notice that 'es' is being used for permanent things and 'está' for things that are changeable in time or space.

While you are at it, see what other words you can understand or figure out. Sometimes just knowing English helps (even if sometimes it gets in the way). Other times, seeing words next to a picture can give you a clue.