when is it suitable to use esta instead of esta es when saying this is

Question

Hi i have recently started learning spanish and i have come across two different methods for saying "this is" which are "esta" and "esta es" is there a reason one is used in one instance and one in another. sorry that i do not have any examples on hand but has it something to do with emotions and possessions. For my own experience i have noticed that esta is used when decribing emotion and esta es is used when taking about possessions or descriding an object. Is my understaing correct if not if anyone could point me in the right direction that would be great.

thanks

Answer 1

Perhaps you mean the difference between 'está' which is a form of the verb 'estar' and 'esta' the fem demonstrative for 'this one' (describing a feminine thing only).

Very easy to confuse as the only difference is the tilde ´ over the last 'a'

For example:

Estar (present indicative) - speaking about things right now

estoy - I am

estás - you are

está - he, she, it is

estamos - we are

estáis - you (pl inf) are

están - you (pl), they are

Está enfadada. She is angry.

Where as esta (no tilde on the 'a') means this or this one. (but only when talking about one singular feminine article such as 'this shirt' - ' la camisa'

Esta es linda. This is lovely.

Hope that helps Keep up the learning!

Answer 2

This is why the accent marks are important. You're actually seeing two completely different words that look very similar

esta = this

está = he/she/it is

Está is from the verb estar, es is from the verb ser. Esta just means this (singular feminine).

So,

está = he/she/it is

esta es = this is

Now, the bigger question is, "What is the difference between Estar and Ser?" That one's been asked a million times, and is one of the trickier things about Spanish. Please search for earlier threads. They can answer it much better than I can.

Answer 3

delete-already answered several times over

*First, you need to know that

• esta (demonstrative pronoun or demonstrative adjective)
• está (3rd person, singular, present tense, indicative mood of verb Estar)
• ésta (demonstrative pronoun)

has three different meanings, so your question is difficult to understand if you have misspelled the words.

esta (pronoun) or ésta es is the only correct combination possible with es.

This (thing or this one) is....

esta as an demonstrative adjective must accompany a noun (this book, not the verb es)

está cannot be followed by es (you don't use two conjugated verbs together)

The pronoun this (one), this (thing) can be written as ésta or esta (with or without the accent mark)

This (one or thing) is=ésta es or esta es (ésta or esta refers to a feminine noun or pronoun)

está by itself can mean it is, but not this is.

Answer 4

Hi, again, alanreen.

Are you confusing está and esta?

Está is the third person singular present tense of the verb estar, one of the two Spanish verbs meaning "to be," and often the one used for emotions - see the reference article on the two verbs, available under the "more" button above.

Esta (without the accent) is a demonstrative adjective meaning "this." I don't think you could make a grammatical sentence using only "esta" without a verb - your example "esta es" means "this is" with the verb "es" being the third person singular of the other form of "to be," "ser."

However, I too am a relative beginner, so maybe one of the more experienced folks on this site can give a better answer.