Estoy feo.

Question

This is getting old... But I'm still not getiing it...

Ser: DOCTOR

Estar: PLACE

(This is just to help me, so you can ignore the acronyms^^) I know that we can use Ser for description, like, "Soy bonito."

But one thing... If a person was pretty, and suddenly one day, they became ugly for one day(which could happen, right?), would you say "Está feo."? (Because estar indicates temporary things(in general)?)

Also, when someone is dead, you use estar, because Spanish speaking people see death as an ongoing action. But why is that? Death is obviously permanent..

I have just those two questions for now.. But I bet there's gonna be more XD

Anyhoo, thanks to all the members in SpanishDict for helping me out so far!

Answer 1

Yes, you can say está feo to say that someone looks ugly for a day. You use estar muerto/a because to have died you have to have lived, which indicates a change of state.

So, if you say "está vivo" it means he used to be dead but his state has changed? - samdie, Jan 20, 2011

No, but using estar means that a change can happen. If your alive you will probably die someday. - pescador1, Jan 21, 2011

Answer 2

Yeah, if I am normally fat then soy gordo. If I am normally thin and embark upon a fortnight's binge of pizza, chips, ice-cream and beer and put on 2 stone, my fiends are likely to comment 'estás gordo'.

Answer 3

The temporary/permanent rule is very misleading. It's more a matter of a temporary state vs. an inherent quality of something. And that's only partly true. It's really a matter of "That's just the way they say it." Don't learn the rules, learn how people say things.

Good explanation. - Nicole-B, Jan 19, 2011