Uses of 'Estar'

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Uses of 'Estar'

The verb 'estar' in Spanish has many different uses. It is important to know all of its uses.

Location

'Estar' is used to say where something is.
- ¿Dónde están las llaves?
  - Where are the keys?
- Delhi está en India.
  - Delhi is in India.

Mood

'Estar' is used to show someone's mood, it reflects that the state is temporary.
- Theo está feliz.
  - Theo is happy.
- Estoy bien.
  - I am ok.

Consequences

'Estar' is used to show a state as a result or consequence of a process/action that has taken place.
- La puerta está abierta porque la abrí yo.
  - The door is open because I opened it.

Health

In the same way, 'estar' is used to show illness. Because ‘estar’ is used to communicate a state or circumstantial situation.
- Están enfermos.
  - They are ill.

'Ser' or 'Estar'

Using the wrong verb can change the meaning of a phrase. You have to be careful when selecting which verb to use.

To be open vs be an open character

The phrase 'to be open' in Spanish would be 'estar abierto/a'.
- La puerta está abierta.
But if you use 'ser' instead, the phrase changes meaning to talk about someone's character.
- Chris es abierto.
  - Chris is an open person.

To be ready vs to be clever

If you want to say that 'you are ready, 'estar' would need to be used.
- Estoy listo.
  - I am ready.
But if you were talking about intelligence you would need to use 'ser'.
- Soy listo.
  - I am clever.

To be proud of vs to be entitled

Being proud is a temporary state, you are not always proud of someone, so 'estar' is needed.
- Mis padres están orgullosos de mí.
  - My parents are proud of me.
But if you use 'ser' here the meaning is changed.
- Mis padres son orgullosos.
  - My parents are entitled/arrogant.

To be handsome

To say that someone is good-looking you would need to use 'ser'.
- Zach es guapa.
  - Zach is handsome (a handsome man).
This is an inherent quality.
But if you say someone looks handsome 'estar' is needed.
Someone could look handsome because of clothes or a haircut, so it is temporary.
- Zach está guapo.
  - Zach looks handsome today (today is temporal).

1The Basics

1.1Pronouns

1.1.1Personal Pronouns

1.2Verbs

1.2.13 Types of Verbs

1.3Nouns

1.3.1Noun Endings

1.4Adjectives

1.4.1Gender

1.4.2Position

1.5Abbreviations

1.5.1Common Abbreviations

1.6Time

1.6.1Time Expressions (1/2)

1.6.2Time Expressions (2/2)

1.6.3Time

1.6.4Telling the Time

1.6.5Seasons

1.6.6Sometimes

1.6.7A While

2Home & Abroad

2.1Town & Region

2.1.1Shops

2.1.2Places

2.1.3Town & Region

2.1.4Town & Countryside

2.1.5Weather

2.2Holiday

2.2.1Countries

2.2.2Holidays

2.2.3Opinions

2.2.4Accomodation

2.2.5Eating Out

2.2.6Tourism

2.2.7Directions

2.2.8Near, There

2.3Customs

2.3.1Customs & Festivals

2.3.2Customs & Festivals 2

2.4Everyday Life, Traditions & Communities

2.4.1Greetings

3Education & Employment

3.1School Life

3.1.1School

3.1.2Subjects

3.1.3A Good Student

3.1.4Life at School

3.2School Trips

3.2.1School Trips

3.3Work

3.3.1Types of Jobs

3.3.2Work

3.3.3Languages

3.3.4Charity

3.4Future Plans

3.4.1University

3.4.2Future Study

4Personal Life & Relationships

5The World Around Us

5.1Environmental Issues

5.1.1Environment

5.1.2Climate Change

5.2Weather

5.2.1The Weather

5.3Travel & Transport

5.3.1Going on Holiday

5.4The Media

5.4.1Social Media

5.4.2Opinions on Social Media

5.4.3Opinions on Social Media 2

5.5Information & Communication

5.5.1Mobile Technology

5.5.2Using our Devices

6Social Activities, Fitness & Health

6.1Special Occasions

6.1.1Numbers (1 - 20)

6.1.2Numbers (21 - 100)

6.1.3Parties

6.2Hobbies & Interests

6.2.1What I Like: Gustar

6.2.2Music

6.2.3Cinema & TV

6.2.4Sport (1/2)

6.2.5Sport (2/2)

6.2.6Fashion

6.3Shopping & Money Matters

6.3.1Food & Clothes Shopping

6.3.2Food & Clothes Shopping 2

6.3.3Money Matters

6.4Injuries, Illness & Health

6.4.1Healthy Lifestyle

6.4.2The Body

6.4.3Illness

6.5Food & Drink

6.5.1Meat

6.5.2Fish

6.5.3Other Food

6.5.4Fruit & Veg

6.5.5Drinks & Snacks

6.5.6Dairy & Other

7Listening

7.1Town & Region

7.1.1My Neighbourhood

7.1.2Poverty & Homelessness

7.2Holiday

7.2.1Tourism

7.3Customs

7.3.1Day of the Dead

7.4Education

7.4.1Life at School

7.4.2Education Post-16

7.4.3Jobs, Careers, & Ambition

7.4.4Charity & Voluntary Work

7.5Personal Life & Relationships

7.5.1Family & Friends

7.5.2Marriage & Partnerships

7.6The Media & Technology

7.6.1Social Media

7.6.2Mobile Technology

7.7Social Activities

7.7.1Music

7.7.2Cinema & TV

7.7.3Food & Eating Out

7.7.4Sport

7.8The Environment

7.8.1The Environment

7.9Fitness & Health

7.9.1Healthy & Unhealthy Living

8Common Tenses

8.1Present Tense

8.1.1Regular AR Verbs

8.1.2Negative Verbs

8.1.3Irregular AR Verbs

8.1.4Irregular AR Verbs: Exceptions

8.1.5Regular ER Verbs

8.1.6Irregular ER Verbs

8.1.7Irregular ER Verbs 2

8.1.8Regular IR Verbs

8.1.9Irregular IR Verbs

8.1.10Irregular IR Verbs 2

8.1.11Irregular IR Verbs 3

8.1.12Irregular IR Verbs 4

8.1.13Verb Phrases

8.1.14The Use of 'Se'

8.2Preterite Tense

8.2.1Regular AR Verbs

8.2.2Irregular AR Verbs (1/4)

8.2.3Irregular AR Verbs (2/4)

8.2.4Irregular AR Verbs (3/4)

8.2.5Irregular AR Verbs (4/4)

8.2.6Regular ER Verbs

8.2.7Irregular ER Verbs (1/5)

8.2.8Irregular ER Verbs (2/5)

8.2.9Irregular ER Verbs (3/5)

8.2.10Irregular ER Verbs (4/5)

8.2.11Irregular ER Verbs (5/5)

8.2.12Regular IR Verbs

8.2.13Irregular IR Verbs (1/6)

8.2.14Irregular IR Verbs (2/6)

8.2.15Irregular IR Verbs (3/6)

8.2.16Irregular IR Verbs (4/6)

8.2.17Irregular IR Verbs (5/6)

8.2.18Irregular IR Verbs (6/6)

8.3Imperfect Tense

8.3.1Regular Verbs (1/2)

8.3.2Regular Verbs (2/2)

8.3.3Irregular Verbs - Ir & Ver

8.3.4Irregular Verbs - Ser

8.4Preterite vs Imperfect Tenses

8.4.1Uses

8.4.2Preterite vs Imperfect

8.5Future Tense

8.5.1The Future with 'Ir'

9Important Verbs

9.1To Be - 'Ser' & 'Estar'

9.1.1Conjugation

9.1.2Uses of 'Ser'

9.1.3Expressions Using 'Ser'

9.1.4Uses of 'Estar'

9.1.5Expressions Using 'Estar' (1/2)

9.1.6Expressions Using 'Estar' (2/2)

9.2To Like - 'Gustar'

9.2.1How to Use 'Gustar'

9.3To Have - 'Tener'

9.3.1How to Use 'Tener'

9.3.2Phrases Using 'Tener'

10Advanced Tenses

10.1The Simple Future

10.1.1Regular Verbs

10.1.2Regular Verbs 2

10.1.3Irregular Verbs

10.1.4Irregular Verbs 2

10.2Conditional Tense

10.2.1Regular Verbs

10.2.2Regular IR Verbs

10.2.3'Hacer' & 'Decir'

10.2.4Irregular Verbs

10.2.5Uses of the Conditional

10.3Continuous Tenses

10.3.1Forming the Gerund

10.3.2Changes to the Stem

10.3.3Present Continuous

10.3.4Uses of the Present Continuous

10.3.5Imperfect Continuous

10.4Perfect Tense

10.4.1Past Participles

10.4.2Irregular Past Participles

10.4.3Present Perfect

10.4.4Uses of the Present Perfect

10.4.5Pluperfect

10.4.6Passive Voice

10.5Present Subjunctive

10.5.1Present Subjunctive: AR Verbs

10.5.2Present Subjunctive: ER Verbs

10.5.3Present Subjunctive: IR Verbs

10.5.4Irregular AR Verbs (1/3)

10.5.5Irregular AR Verbs (2/3)

10.5.6Irregular AR Verbs (3/3)

10.5.7Irregular ER Verbs (1/2)

10.5.8Irregular ER Verbs (2/2)

10.5.9Irregular IR Verbs (1/3)

10.5.10Irregular IR Verbs (2/3)

10.5.11Irregular IR Verbs (3/3)

10.5.12The Verb 'Ir'

10.5.13Subjunctive Uses

10.6Imperfect Subjunctive

10.6.1AR Verbs

10.6.2ER Verbs

10.6.3ER Verbs: Strong Preterites

10.6.4IR Verbs

10.6.5IR Verbs: Strong Preterites

10.7Imperative

10.7.1The Imperative

10.7.2Negative Imperative

10.7.3Irregular Imperatives

11Extra Grammar

11.1Articles

11.1.1Definite Article

11.1.2Indefinite Article

11.1.3Lo + Adjective

11.2Negatives

11.2.1Just the 'Nada' Bit

11.2.2Negatives

11.3Nouns

11.3.1People & Animals (1/2)

11.3.2People & Animals (2/2)

11.3.3Masculine & Feminine Nouns

11.3.4Masculine & Feminine Exceptions

11.3.5Masculine & Feminine

11.3.6Masculine & Feminine 2

11.3.7Forming the Plural

11.4Asking Questions

11.4.1How to Ask a Question

11.4.2Question Words 2

11.4.3Common Questions

11.5Adjectives

11.5.1Other Adjectives

11.5.2Adjectives that Remain the Same

11.5.3'Grande' & 'Bueno'

11.5.4Plural

11.5.5The Best, The Worst

11.5.6This, These, That and Those

11.5.7Possession

11.5.8Posession (2/2)

11.5.9Whose

11.5.10Indefinite

11.6Adverbs

11.6.1Adding 'Mente'

11.6.2Common Phrases with Adverbs

11.6.3Common Phrases with Adverbs 2

11.6.4Still & Yet

11.7Conjunctions

11.7.1What are Conjunctions?

11.7.2Connectors

11.8Pronouns

11.8.1This, These, That & Those

11.8.2Possession

11.8.3Someone, Something

11.8.4Reflexive Pronouns

11.8.5Direct Object

11.8.6After Prepositions

11.8.7Que and Quien

11.8.8'El Que' and 'El Cual'

11.9By, With, From, Of

11.9.1By, With, From, Of

11.9.2'Por' & 'Para' (1/2)

11.9.3'Por' & 'Para' (2/2)

11.10Verbs

11.10.1Derivatives

11.10.2Derivatives 2

11.10.3Reflexives

11.10.4Common Reflexive Verbs

11.10.5Common Reflexive Verbs 2

11.11Comparisons

11.11.1Comparisons (1/2)

11.11.2Comparisons (2/2)

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