soy vs estoy in Spanish please
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Spanish as a second language teacher here.
While there are exceptions for each case, the simplest way to see it is:
“ser” describes the way something or someone is/was/will be.
“estar” describes the way something or someone is/was/willl be doing.
case #2 for “estar”, it’s also used for something that changed. That’s why we use it for dead (you were alive, now you’re not). another example for this would be: If I say “eres gordo” I’m saying you are fat, like you’ve always been. but if I say “estás gordo”, I’m pointing out that you now look fatter than before, thus describing a change.
case #3 for “estar”, it describes location, which may sound temporary in cases like “you’re at the park” = “estás en el parque”, but we also use it for buildings and cities and such. “the bank is three blocks away from here” – “el banco está a tres cuadras de aquí”.
case #2 for “ser”, it’s used to describe when something was/is/will be. So, anything related to time, will most likely be described with “ser”.
¿qué hora es? = son las seis de la tarde. – what time is it? = it’s six in the afternoon.
la fiesta es el viernes en la noche – the party is on Friday night.
that’s as short as I can keep it, if you need more help with it, you are welcome to dm me.
Soy is for permanent traits. Estoy is for temporary traits.
“Soy (name)” permanent.
“Estoy cansado” (I’m tired). Temporary.
SOY, answers questions like WHO ARE YOU? A: I’M BATMAN (Soy Batman).
ESTOY, it’s a bit more versatile. It’s used to answer questions like HOW ARE YOU? I’M OKAY (Estoy bien). WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I’M FINISHING SOME CHORES (Estoy terminado unos oficios). WHERE ARE YOU? I’M RIGHT AT THE ENTRANCE (Estoy en la entrada). HOW DO YOU FEEL? I’M A BIT UNDER THE WEATHER (Estoy algo indispuesto).
I speak Spanish and don’t know how to explain hahaha, soy, could be something you are, something that does not change, and estoy, is something that you are doing in that moment, estoy caminando, estoy cocinando and so on
“Soy caliente” means you are sexy or hot headed emotionally.
“Estoy caliente” means you are uncomfortably hot at the moment.
It’s best to not mix these up.
Ser (yo soy) describes an essence.
Estar (yo estoy) describes a status.
This distinction works for nearly all uses.
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Plato’s theory of forms is that there are these pristine concepts (“forms”) and they are instantiated by common every day “particulars.”
So there could be a white horse, a brown horse and a black horse. They’re particulars of the form Horse; they instantiate a horse. So they *ser* horse.
Similarly there could be many beautiful particulars but they all embody beauty. A rose, a beautiful woman, a sunset. They all *ser* beauty.
The particular instantiation is not describing the overall form. The horse *estar* brown/white/beautiful/big.
As a native Spanish speaker, I just explained this one to my 10 year not long ago. Sorry if my mnemonic is odd lol:
Estoy – think of describing a physical state or location. Think of estoy looking like the word state. Obviously not cognates but ya know, directionally similar looking
Estoy cansado
Estoy enfermo
Estoy en mi casa
Describing states or location.
Soy – think of simple adjectives or telling your name.
Soy alto
Soy Carlos
Soy vago
Clicked for him.
The way I was taught to remember the uses for estar was with the acronym HELP – Health, Emotion, Location, Proximity. Anything else would be ser.
It’s not perfect for every difference between ser and estar, but good for a baseline of temporary conditions that would likely use estar.
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