If "estar" means somewhere, then why do we say "¿Cómo está"?

Question

If esta' means somewhere then why do we say , como' esta'?

Answer 1

I'm guessing you misunderstood an example by Juancn in your previous post

está: means "is at/on/in" (somewhere)

He was simply showing its use.

By the way, welcome to the forum. - Yeser007, Sep 24, 2010

Answer 2

Hi, Sydnor. Welcome to the forum.

"Estar" means "to be" and in it's can be used to talk about states of emotion, location of objects or people, and conditions.

"¿Cómo estás? How are you? (What is your condition/feelings today?)

"¿Cómo está Juan? How is Juan? (What is his condition/how is he feeling today?)

¿Dónde estás? Where are you? (Where are you located right now?)

Estoy enojado. I am angry. (An emotional state).

Doesn't estar mean TO BE? - Gocika, Sep 24, 2010

in its infinitive form yes,' Estar' means to be but, está conjugated to 3rd person sing = is/are :) - FELIZ77, Sep 24, 2010

She typed : "Estar" means "is" or "are" , but what it means in this form is "to be". - Gocika, Sep 24, 2010

eg ¿Cómo estás? How are you? Ricrado está aqui= Ricardo is here :) - FELIZ77, Sep 24, 2010

I mean, Ricardo... - FELIZ77, Sep 24, 2010

Thank you, Gocika, I edited to make the definition of "estar" clearer. - --Mariana--, Sep 24, 2010

Answer 3

In English we have the verb "to be" that covers all. In Spanish this concept is divided into two verbs, ser and estar. You need to learn when to use each one. Estar is a verb of place and verb of emotion. Ser is for conditions that do not change (or do not change easily), like nationality or profession.

This is one of the tricky parts of learning Spanish, but if you try, you will get it.

Click here for the explanation from the REFERENCE section of the website.

Click here for the video lesson on ser/estar.

One more thing..."ser" and "estar" are highly irregular and will require a lot of practice to get it right. Just remember, "to be" is highly irregular, too, (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been) and you learned it.

Do look at these two links because they are very helpful! - revmaf, Sep 24, 2010