Ser vs Estar a little Latin insight

Question

As these two verbs seems to be one of the, if not 'the', hardest parts of the Spanish language to understand and use, I thought that this article may be of interest and hopefully benefit to others here . Copula

Today, ser is used to express the fundamental nature, identity or characteristics of something — what it really is, whilst estar expresses the state something happens to be in. Indeed, ser is etymologically related to the English words "essence" and "is", and estar with "state", "status", "standing", "stance" and "stay".

You can definitely keep on trying. I really wonder if it is at all possible to "get" this through explanations... :-) - Gekkosan, Sep 7, 2011

:) Hey Gekko, how lovely to have you pop in. Well I'm trying a combination je je - as much exposure as possible mixed in with some explanation here and there :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 7, 2011

Answer 1

The connections between "estar" and many English words are not particularly hard, I think, but "ser" is far from obvious, as it comes from Latin "sedere" (to sit down), which can be found in many words like "reside" (re + sedere), sedate, sediment, president (pre + sedere), subsidy (sub + sedere) , session, assess,... and even "sedan" (the car). Meaning that it is the most changing feature in most languages, and most of these changes seem to be driven by metaphors and metonymies.

Contrary to the usual obvious interpretation, "ser" has become a verb that merely classifies, and it doesn't "sit" any more.

The word "classification" helps me considerably in making the distinction. - territurtle, Sep 7, 2011

Answer 2

A very nice (and concise) statement of the distinction. Pretty much what Lazarus has said (using somewhat more modern terminology) on a number of occasions. The real problem is internalizing this distinction so that it becomes a "feeling" for what is right, rather than relying on a bunch (of usually stupid) rules.

Exactly. There are many ways to define and explain it, but it is one of those things that you just have to learn by practice, like the difference between "in" and "on" in English, which presents a similar difficulty for Spanish speakers. - Gekkosan, Sep 7, 2011

Nice to see you back again Gekko - BellaMargarita, Sep 7, 2011

Answer 3

hahahahah sorry but your perseverance amazes me. I hope one day you'll be able to have the upper hand over ser and estar. Go get 'em, girl!

thanks SP I'm determined alright! - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 7, 2011