When do you use "estaba" instead of "era"

Question

When do you use "estaba" instead of "era"

Bienvenido al foro. Welcome to the forum. - 0074b507, Mar 25, 2011

Answer 1

Have a look at these links:

Ser vs. Estar

Ser vs. Estar

estar on RAE.es

ser on RAE.es

Answer 2

"estaba" is an inflected form of the infinitive "estar" and "era" is an inflected form of the infinitive "ser". So the question is really about when do you use "estar" and when do you use "ser". The "ser vs estar" topic is quite confusing for most learners of Spanish, so you can find many articles about it on the Net. My favourite is Ser vs Estar - the Definitive Guide, because it made me actually understand the difference before I got to any rules. And it doesn't use acronyms, which never worked for me..

I'm not trying to explain it here, because there's a lot to say and any quick tips may be convenient initially, but confusing later. Just type "ser vs estar" in Google and read a few articles to see what I mean..

Answer 3

Hi, You can use estaba where you would in the present use estar (when something is a condition) and era where you would use ser (when something is a characteristic) For example: Estaban aburridos cuando trabajaron.. - they were bored when they worked Eran aburridos cuando trabajaron.. - they were boring when they worked

Hope that helps! Carolina