Is a village permanent or temporary when using "to be"?

Question

Explica qué es un aldea.

I fixed the grammatical errors in your question. - amykay, Dec 5, 2010

Answer 1

I want to say it is a small village. Do i use está or es?

Check the reference section. I explain how to use these verbs in detail, but for the moment memorize this:

ser is used to define, classify and identify.

estar is used for everything else.

That will cover most of the troublesome cases with ser & estar. There are other uses, but those have to be memorized.

Answer 2

If you were defining (classifying, categorizing) the village as being a small village you would use "ser", and if you were describing the location of the village you would use "estar"?

That's correct, and so are your examples.

Thank you - Stadt, Dec 5, 2010

Also for people who like the permanent-temporary rule- the location is more permanent than the size and thus that rule clearly does not work. - Stadt, Dec 5, 2010

"Es un niño" is not permanent -he will grow and will no longer be a child. "Está muerto" is permanent until someone figures out how to bring back the dead. - lazarus1907, Dec 5, 2010

How about: Plátanos son amarillos, pero este plátano está verde. - Stadt, Dec 5, 2010

By which I mean a banana is characteristically yellow, a child is characteristically a child, but a person is not characteristically dead. - Stadt, Dec 5, 2010

Answer 3

What do you mean by being permanent? What does being permanent have to do with the explanation? I hope you haven't been told that "ser" is used with permanent and "estar" with temporary, because it is the worst pseudo-rule you can ever use to differentiate these verbs: it will let you down in thousands of situations where it "doesn't work" (it doesn't work because it is not a rule, but a bad over-generalization)

Answer 4

For my personal clarification (as someone who tries to learn from the questions of others):

If you were defining (classifying, categorizing) the village as being a small village you would use "ser", and if you were describing the location of the village you would use "estar"?

Es una aldea pequeña

La aldea está en España

Sorry, but I like to be sure I am understanding correctly.

Note, the original question is not mine - Stadt, Dec 5, 2010

That's the way I understand it, Stadt. - Echoline, Dec 5, 2010

Answer 5

Ser is used in definitions, nationality, characteristics. It is also used for location (as is "estar". Examples:

Es una aldea pequena que es en Espana. Ay diablos, donde este mi boligrafo?

You can't say "es en España"; it is wrong. Also, you must say "está mi bolígrafo". - lazarus1907, Dec 5, 2010

Answer 6

What we really need to know is if "Explica" is something that you wrote or part of the sentence.

Was the instruction for the lesson?:

Explica qué es una aldea.

Explain what a villiage is. or are your saying Please, explain "¿Qué es un aldea? This might sound stupid, but you can't believe the lack of punctuation that we see in questions.

In either case they are asking for a definition so Ser is correct. And since I don't think anyone has mentioned it: congratulations for correctly choosing between cuál and qué if you made up the sentence.

¡Bienvenida al foro!

Welcome to the forum!

Answer 7

If you are a beginner, try using this little jingle to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star":

"Twinkle, twinkle little "estar"...how you feel and where you are". If you are a beginner, all other uses will be "ser".

A village is located in a place; use a form of "estar".

The concept of "permanent" and "temporary" is not a good way to approach this topic.

Caution: the "Twinkle" approach works only to explain the most basic difference between "ser" and "estar"

Answer 8

I want to say it is a small village. Do i use está or es?