The Difference Between Ser and Estar.

(I was able to close this entry out in notepad, but realized I never actually posted it last night. Whoops.)

If you know anything about spanish, this entry will make sense really fast.

My inspiration is simple. I get offended when it’s implied that I’m ’emo’. But wait. What if I am being emo? Does that mean I’m emo? The english verb “to be” is inadequate in differentiating between momentary feelings and states of identification.

This is not a lesson in spanish. In fact, I bet a spanish teacher or a casual spanish student make cocksmack me. Nonetheless! “Ser” means “to be”, and is typically used to describe permanent statements of identity. Soy fuerte. I am strong. “Estar” also means “to be”, but is used to describe temporary things. That’s the short-answer way of understanding it. “Estoy fuerte” also translates as “I am strong”, but means something a little different. I don’t think any spanish teacher would like me using fuerte with estar, so I’ll run away from that example.

It’s hard to learn, but it’s amazing that spanish has this difference built into the language.

I’m not sure what else to say. Simply that if someone were to say “estas emo!” I wouldn’t be nearly as offended as if someone were to say “eres emo!” This specifity takes entire pages to explain, but is built into the language. The state of being something, but not actually being something permanently. I just think a lot of confusion and insulting goes on as a result of there being simply one all-purpose “to be” in english.

Lady Quetzalcoatl

October 23, 2005

True, English could use a ser/estar. And then learners of Spanish wouldn’t fuck it up so much.

Other languages are more specific like that, like how they differentiate between you (informal) and you (formal/plural). But I guess there are things English has that other languages lack, too. I can’t think of anything at the moment, and I sure don’t speak any language fluently. (I’ve taken a year or two each of Spanish, French, and Russian so I’m pretty good at learning languages, but not so…

…good at speaking any particular one.)

eucatastrophe.

i had so much trouble knowing which to use when for a while, because she was giving us specific cases for when to use which and i was never certain which was what. and then she said temporary vs. permanent, generally, and it suddenly made a lot more sense.what spanish class are you in? *is only in II*

did you learn verbs with charts or not? because i’ve talked to kids from other schools who can’t memorize verbs to save their lives, but our school doesn’t have a problem with it because we memorize endings for different verbs and put them into a chart and it makes everything a million times easier.

Vellosa

*nods*

French is like that too – it can be hard to explain – you did good dude! As for the emo thing I know what you mean – but I think that’s also an aversion to being pigeon-holed. I have ’emo’ days, I have hippy days, I have preppy days and I have plain ‘scabby’ look! LMAO

julieannie

October 27, 2005

My spanish teacher didn’t feel the need to teach me the difference in 4 years of high school but the minute I got to college, I discovered they weren’t interchangable. Bah!