8. Learning to express how you are and where you are

So far we can say what we are doing and when we are doing it, but it is also helpful to talk about where we are, and even where we are going. You have already learned one verb for “being”—to be→ser.

Do you remember Doctor EE?

We use “SER” for the following reasons:

D—date → fecha : días, meses, estaciones

O—occupation

C—characteristics (permanent characteristics/physical or personality traits/origin)

T—time → the hour → La hora

O—ownership/possession

R—reaction/opinion (cognates—es fabuloso, es importante, es posible, es interesante…)

E—events taking place

E—essence—what something is made of

El verbo estar is another word for to be. We use the verb estar to describe where we are, or where something or someone is located. When we want to talk about how we are feeling and where we are, always use the verb estar. (It rhymes!) The forms of estar are:

Looking at ESTAR, you see it is an “AR” verb so the tendency is to think it will conjugate like an AR verb. It is very close. Note that ESTAR is irregular in the yo form “Estoy”, but that some of the other forms have the written accent mark. Recalling the accent or stress rules, you know that words ending in a vowel, n or s have the stress on the second to the last syllable. In the case of estar, this rule is broken for several of the verb conjugations and hence the written accent mark. Practice and, of course, writing the exception on your flashcards will help you remember the conjugations.

Below are just a few of the reasons when we choose ESTAR instead of SER. The reasons when you will use ESTAR in a sentence may be easily recalled by remembering this mnemonic device or memory tool:

Mastering the different reasons for SER vs ESTAR early in your studies will help you tremendously. You can see these reasons above are very much different than those used for SER and go beyond how you are feeling and where you are.

Agreguemos unos lugares (some places) to practice the verb ESTAR.

Más lugares = more places

Ejemplos:

• Nosotros estamos en la biblioteca.
  • We are in/at the library.
• Yo estoy en la cafetería.
  • I am in the cafeteria.
• El cuaderno está en la mesa.
  • The notebook is on the table.
• Nos vemos en la iglesia.
  • See you at church.

*Notice the use of “en” with estar, to say that someone or something is located in, on or at (inside of) a place.

Añadamos→

You have also learned to use the verb estar to ask and answer the question, ¿Cómo estás? As you may notice, we also use the verb estar to talk about our emotions or feelings.

Adjetivos para expresar emociones o sentimientos con estar:

Remember that when we use adjectives to describe the way that someone is feeling, we must make the adjectives agree with the person that we are describing. This is referred to in Spanish as “concordancia” or agreement. You have been creating sentences where the verbs agree with the subject (person/number). Prior to that you learned how the definite article agrees with the noun in the sense of is the noun masculine or feminine while also considering singular or plural. These very same concepts apply to making adjectives agree with the noun.

Hablemos de la concordancia y los adjetivos:

• If you are describing un libro (a book), notice the word for book is masculine and it is singular. Therefore all words describing the book will also be masculine and singular.
  • Es un libro largo y rojo. It is a long red book.
  • Es un libro interesante. It is an interesting book.
• If you are describing una casa (an house), think about the word “casa”. It is feminine and singular.
  • Es una casa amarilla. It is a yellow house.
  • Es una casa grande. It is a big house.
• How do I make these plural? Consider that the verb will change but for the adjectives simply add “s”.
  • Son unos libros largos y rojos.
  • Son unos libros interesantes.
  • Son unas casas amarillas y grandes.

Practiquemos

Answer in complete (Spanish) sentences, using the information in parenthesis.

1. ¿Cómo está Ana? (sick) _______________________________
2. ¿Cómo están ellos? (busy) _________________________________
3. ¿Cómo estás? (bored) __________________________________
4. ¿Dónde estamos? (the gym) __________________________
5. ¿Dónde están los estudiantes? (the library) ______________________
6. ¿Dónde está Miguel? (the stadium) __________________________

TAREA

Write 10 questions and answers using “ser” and 10 questions and answers using “estar” on a sheet of paper that you will submit at the beginning of your next class.

You have been creating sentences where the verbs agree with the subject!

One of the last uses for “estar” is noted with “H” for happening now. This refers to an action in progress at this moment. The term for this is a progressive form and if the action is happening at this moment, it is referred to as the present progressive. It makes sense, right? It is happening now in the present and is an action in progress→present progressive (presente progresivo—it is another cognate too).

El presente progresivo:

We form this grammatical structure with the present tense indicative of the verb estar plus a gerund. What is a gerund? It is the “ing” form of the verb. In English, we don’t say running or talking as actions by themselves, correct? We say someone is running or someone is talking.This requires two parts:

The present tense of estar plus the gerund.

The examples above outline a few regular gerunds; those that do not have any spelling changes in the pattern. However, there are a few common actions that have unique spellings in the gerund.

Many of them come from IR verbs that have stem or root changes. We will study extensively the stem change verbs in the next unit however, below please learn the verbs that have a unique spelling in the gerund form to say some of the actions you are doing.

IR—to go

The gerund is yendo. Estoy yendo a la tienda. I am going to the store.

Leer—to read

The gerund is leyendo. Rocío e Isa están leyendo un libro. Rocío and Isa are reading a book.

Dormir—to sleep

The gerund is durmiendo. Maxie está durmiendo. Maxie is sleeping.

For now, learn these common gerunds with their unique spelling as part of vocabulary. With practice you will incorporate them into your daily speech.

Use the prompts below to answer ¿Qué estás haciendo?

There are more gerunds with unique spellings but for now, become familiar with the idea of the use of ESTAR with the GERUND to form a thought about what one is doing at this moment.

Remember the gerund is not a verb as it is not conjugated. It belongs to a grammatical group called a verboide in Spanish or verbals in English. Within this group, you will find the terms infinitive, gerund and participle. We have studied the first two and in another course you will study the participles.