Use of ser & estar

Question

> Tu casa es muy grande. Tu casa está mucha sucia. I know the general rule for ser & estar about haracteristic Ser -> Basc characteristic Estar -> Specific characteristic

but i am confused , how could i know when we talk about general or specific characteristic?

or it's just ser+muy , estar + mucho?

Please use proper grammar and capitalization on this learning forum, thank you. - rac1, Mar 12, 2012

Answer 1

Follow the rules like mentioned in some of the other posts, but don't be afraid to make mistakes. That is what has helped me the most when talking to native or advanced speakers. Ask them to correct you up front. That way, you can say what seems natural, and if it was not correct, you can fix it right then. Practice, practice, practice. Memorization helps to start, but only practice will make it permanent in your head.

Another excellent answer. Especially about not being afraid to make mistakes. The simple fact is that anyone learning a new language is going to make tens of thousands of mistakes over a long period of time. Accept it and start talking. - gringojrf, Mar 12, 2012

Answer 2

All of the above are good answers and advice. One easy and simple rule to use (but one which is not prefect and will sometimes steer you wrong, but generally will be right) is to think of things that permanent and impermanent/temporary.

La casa es grande. Permanent. Barring something really unusual, it will stay big.

vs

La casa está muy sucia. Temporary. Barring something really unusual, it will be clean one day.

Again, permanent vs temporary is not perfect, but it will serve a beginner fairly well until they learn, by experience, rules, and repetition, the various exceptions. You'll be well understood in most cases in the meantime, and will be able to converse, and hopefully have more advanced or native speakers correct you as needed.

Answer 3

Tu casa es muy grande. Tu casa está mucha sucia. I know the general rule for ser & estar about haracteristic Ser -> Basc characteristic Estar -> Specific characteristic

but i am confused , how could i know when we talk about general or specific characteristic?

or it's just ser+muy , estar + mucho?

Actually, the correct way of writing those sentences follows: Tu casa es muy grande. Tu casa está muy sucia. Muy means "very" in this case. The house is very big and very dirty.

Mucho means "a lot." Ex: Me gustan los colores mucho.=I like the colors a lot. Tiene muchas bicicletas= He has a lot of bikes.

Don´t group ser with muy and estar with mucho.

• You can use ser with muy, as you did in your example.

• You can use ser with mucho, such as "Somos muchos" (there are a lot of us).

• You can use estar with muy, such as "La casa está muy sucia"

• You can use estar with mucho, such as "Está mucho mejor."=He´s a lot better (as in, not sick anymore)

It can be a bit hard at first to figure out which adjectives would be used with ser and which would be used with estar. It all has to do with context. For example, you could say "Lucía es muy guapa." Lucia is a pretty girl, and she is all the time.

But say Lucía got all dressed up with makeup and a nice dress. You could say "Lucía está muy guapa." This means she's pretty too, but it usually means she changed the way she looked to become pretty. It´s like when you tell someone in English "You look pretty" and "you are pretty." The first would be "estás guapa" and the second would be "eres guapa."

I know, it´s really confusing. Here is a basic rundown of ser vs. estar.

Answer 4

Here you can find lots of information on ser and estar.

Your link brings people to a generic answers search page. Did you mean to have it lead to something more specific? - missy8888, Mar 13, 2012