being happy
0
votes
How would you say "being happy? Eras Feliz?
1220 views
updated Jan 18, 2012
posted by amzie
2 Answers
2
votes
It is a little regional but also depends on context, technically you could use ser or estar with happy, ser describes a characteristic whereas estar describes a feeling but ser seems to be more common:
Es conocido por ser feliz. He is known for being happy.
Often if you're referring just to a state or feeling it seems that contento/a is used instead feliz.
Estoy contento. I'm happy (right now). I feel happy.
updated Jan 18, 2012
posted by Kiwi-Girl
0
votes
Estoy feliz, Extoy contento. You hear both of these all the time. I think of happiness as an emotion and so I think Estar is the correct verb for normal usage.
There may be specific situations when Ser would work.
updated Jan 18, 2012
posted by gringojrf
Hola Gringo, not always accurate I know but Google gives under 5 million hits for 'estoy feliz' but over 19 million for 'estoy contento' :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 18, 2012
Kiwi, I don't understand your comment. I was saying that in Mexico on the streets you will hear both used all the time. I never looked at Google for how many hits each gets. - gringojrf, Jan 18, 2012
lol - I was just interested to see what the stats reflected because I've heard that estar contento is more common than estar feliz (although that's not wrong of course), and thought you might be interested too, all good :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 18, 2012
Oh. Google is not always accurate. Now I get it. - gringojrf, Jan 18, 2012
