Estate preparada
Is this prepare yourself like "prepárate"? Seems weird with estate, I'm not too used to seeing that phrases like that. Gracias.
3 Answers
The imperative of "estar" is "está", but this imperative is practically never used for two reasons:
(1) It is identical to "(él/ella/usted) está", and it sounds weird. It is probably not grammatical reason, but it does sound veeeery weird.
(2) "Estar" is a verb that describes the circumstances that surround you or affect you, and that's not something that you can normally control -it simply happens to you- in Spanish (in English is different). Think of these commands in English with the equivalent of "estar": Don't be tired! Be twice as tall! You cannot be those things by doing it -you just are those things (ie. tired, so much tall). Of course, there are many cases where you have certain degree of control over those circumstances and you can say things like "Be there!", but in Spanish this does not sound right with "estar". The alternative is to use "estarse", where this "se" confers the subject a degree of control or involvement in the action described by the verb. So now we can say "Estate ahí". However, this does not mean that you should eventually arrive to that place, but that you are already there, and you are being commanded to maintain your circumstances as they are, ie. remain in that place. You have sentences like "Estate quieto" (stay still), "Estate callado" (stay/be quiet),... This "estate" becomes very close to "stay" even though it means "be..!" It is a very common usage.
As far as I know estarse is a pronomial verb. And it means to stay for example
Te puedes estar con tu madre si tienes miedo.. : you can stay with your mother if you are afraid.
or something which is said a lot ;
¡Estate quieto! which means stay still!
So Estate preparada should mean "be prepared against any thing that can occur suddenly!" I guess! 
But for you it would be 'o' 'Estate preparado' Estate listo
