Fue o estuvo??

Question

Could someone please help:

I am talking to a friend about a party that I went to last week and am describing the evening..

Fue una noche muy calor.

or

El noche estuvo muy calor.

I have looked up ser and estar but I just can't seem to make the distinction between the two.

Gracias.

Answer 1

Fue una noche muy calurosa. -> It was a very hot night.

La noche estuvo muy calurosa. -> The night was very hot.

Remember, "noche" is a feminine noun, so its article and adjectives copy its gender. Also use "caluroso" if you want to use hot as an adjective for weather,

I agree with many here, it is more common to make weather phrases with "hacer" as in: Hacía/Hizo calor anoche. -> It was hot last night or the weather was hot last night.

Understanding when to use "ser" and when to use "estar" takes time and practice. This is a useful reference to study: ser-and-estar.

Here's a helpful tip from my personal experience: "ser" is for general and continuous, while "estar" is for situational and a changing state of being.

I agree with that distinction you make between "fue" and "estuvo", but from a practical point of view "estuvo muy calurosa" would get used a lot less often than "fue muy calurosa". If you were using the present tense then it would be less clear. - bill1111, Oct 14, 2010

Answer 2

Ok I'm going to take a crack at this one and I could be wrong, but, I tend to try to use hacer when describing most of weather conditions. Anoche hizo calor or anoche hacía calor. If I were using the weather condition last night as a backdrop for another thing that I'm describling, I'd use hacía calor. Native speakers please come to the rescue!

Almost always. Though the Mexicans I talk to will say, "Hay mucho calor". Go figure. - KevinB, Oct 13, 2010

Answer 3

I found these comments on Wordref.com

• Hoy está nublado. (state) Today is cloudy.
• Hoy es un día nublado (characteristic) Today is a cloudy day.
• Ayer fue un día frío. (characteristic) Yesterday it was a cold day.
• Ayer estuvo frío. (state) Yesterday it was cold.

I guess you can use ser and estar with hot and cold weather, but it seems that I hear hacer more. I'm not really sure. - Bob-Dressler2, Oct 14, 2010

I hear it when it comes to the present tense, like "Hace frio/calor", but when it comes to past, I hear the imperfect of ser/estar, depending on what the speaker is saying. - SenorMike, Oct 14, 2010

Answer 4

Welcome to the forum. The difference between ser and estar is one of the biggest issues for English speakers. It can't be summed up in one post, but I like to think of ser as meaning in inherent characteristic of something, while estar means the current state of something. There's nothing inherently hot about nights, so I'd use estar. The problem is you can't use it with calor. Calor is a noun meaning "heat". You have to use it with caliente, which is the adjective meaning "hot". El noche estuvo caliente.

There are a million exceptions to the rule I just mentioned. Some native speakers will tell you there is no rule, you just have to memorize the different meanings. That's unusual in Spanish, but that's about the size of it.

Answer 5

What about 'el noche hizo calor' hacer is used with a lot of weather expressions.

But the night didn't make heat. Hizo calor esa noche might work. I've always been vague about who was making weather. I've heard it comes from the belief that God causes weather. - KevinB, Oct 13, 2010

Perhaps it's because it can mean to do as well as to make, in English we also can say, what's the weather doing? - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 14, 2010

Answer 6

Wouldn't this be in the imperfect, not the preterit? You're describing something that happened in the past, and the weather at that. It

I'd say "Era una noche muy calor." Without "una noche" it would be "Estaba muy calor."

'calor' is a noun and doesn't work in either of your sentences. - samdie, Oct 14, 2010

Answer 7

There are many subtle uses of the verbs ser and estar, however hot and cold weather isn't one of them. For example, hoy hace calor, hace frío, anoche hacía (hizo) calor. However you say, hay viento, hay lluvia, and había tormentas. However, you say está nublado, As far as I know you don't say hoy está caliente. Any other opinions out there?

From talking to ranch workers, "Hay mucho calor" is very common when it's hot. They also describe days and nights as "Estaba caliente" and "Estabe fría". It's not "correct", but most of them never got much schooling, so what do they know? - KevinB, Oct 13, 2010

What do they know ? ! Pull your head out of your a** and dont be so arrogant - albert-fabrik-, Oct 13, 2010

That was a joke. Don't get riled. I lived in Venezuela as a kid, and I have a lot of good friiends who are native apeakers. They didn't learn Spanish from a book. I'm making fun of the grammarians. Sorry if that didn't come across. - KevinB, Oct 14, 2010

I probably should have added a ;-) - KevinB, Oct 14, 2010

There's nothing grammatically incorrect about those phrases. Personally, I found the last part of your comment to be insensitve and degrading even if you were joking. - Stardust2212, Oct 14, 2010

I'm only being degrading and insensitive to the academicians that insist that what people say in real life is wrong. Think "sarcasm". What people say is what the language is. The academicians are always a generation late. - KevinB, Oct 14, 2010

You are familiar with the concept of sarcasm, right? Should I have put, "Warning: Sarcasm imminent!" in front of "What do they know?" I thought that was a fairly common tip off of sarcasm. - KevinB, Oct 14, 2010

Maybe we don't get your sarcasm, but I think we can all agree that an expression may not be considerd as the most "proper" way to say something, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong. :) - Stardust2212, Oct 14, 2010

Answer 8

The fact that God makes weather is good way to explain the fact that hacer is used for calor, frío. But I guess lluvia and viento just happen without His planning. Come to think of it, you don't say hay lluvia, you say llueve, or está lloviendo, right? Doesn't that sound better?

My workers often say, "Hay mucha lluvia". Well, the ranch is in the desert. It's either parched dry or flooded. But you're right that it's not "correct". - KevinB, Oct 13, 2010