Ser vs Estar Quiz

Question

Well this quiz might not be too hard for our old hands but it is a subject that keeps coming up in the forum so for those who would either like to learn more about ser and estar or for those who just want to make sure that they've got it straight in their own heads, here you have a quiz on ser vs estar/

Ser vs Estar Quiz

Oh goody another one , but it is 12.40 AM, so I shall retire now with something to look forward to when I get up , thanks mate. - ray76, Jan 20, 2014

Thanks... this was a good one! - NikkiLR, Jan 21, 2014

Kiwi do you have a "lesson" on these two verbs , I am in need of one ? - ray76, Jan 24, 2014

sure do buddy http://learnenglishspanishonline.com/spanish/ser-vs-estar/ :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

Answer 1

Congratulations to Annierats who's has the top score so far! 91.67% correct, awesome job!

Congratulations Annie! - rac1, Jan 21, 2014

Congrats amiga! Awesome job. - 0095ca4c, Jan 22, 2014

Congratulations Annie, I hate you , not really for I know how hard that you have worked to get to this place , well done champ. - ray76, Jan 24, 2014

I vote for this one Kiwi, can't think why. - annierats, Jan 24, 2014

lol :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

Answer 2

Thanks again for the quiz! I got a few wrong because of estuvo/estaba.

Not to be picky, but one of the questions has "autobus" instead of "autobús".

Not picky at all, much appreciated, thanx and well done :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 20, 2014

También yo , they throw me all the time . - ray76, Jan 24, 2014

Answer 3

Oh dear I started and was doing well then mucked it up it dropped out , but on my second attempt I raced ahead trying to catch up and bombed . But fabulous quiz it is going to be a winner , I will go in again to learn more . Thanks Kiwi.

lol good onya digga ;) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 22, 2014

Answer 4

Great, I started badly, but then it just went like clockwork. I feel pleased with myself, for once.

Thanks Kiwi, they are really good practice.

Yay, good on you Annie :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 20, 2014

Answer 5

Woo, I totally rocked this one I only got tripped up by estaba/estuve (I thought they were mostly interchangeable?). 83.33%, and mighty pleased

Thanks a lot for the awesome quizzes, KG Can't get enough of them!

P.S: A few questions seemed to be curveballs mostly because the English translations seemed a tad literal, lol.

Thanx Helado, glad to hear you're liking the quizzes. :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 21, 2014

What on earth are curve-balls? - annierats, Jan 24, 2014

Imagine a baseball pitcher Annie, the batter is expecting the ball to come straight down the line but the pitcher makes it curve out to one side before arriving in front of the batter, it's designed to put him off - but goodness I'm sure I'd never do that - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

with my quiz questions jeje ;) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

Answer 6

Everyone who has participated has done so well, any more brave students out there?

Answer 7

Thanks Kiwi, this is something I really need to work on.

My pleasure, thanks for participating :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 20, 2014

Answer 8

DIsappointing result for me - but a great quiz - the explanations are very useful.

The correct answers seemed so obvious after I had answered them incorrectly.

Don't take it too badly Ian, it's very easy to get caught out and I purposely try to make them a bit tricky just to keep them interesting ;) Well done! - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

Answer 9

Kiwi ,that lesson arrived almost as you were posting thanks that is great .

I would now like to move that big step forward and understand how to

use the correct verb in describing actions which took place in the past ,

and either continued , or started and finished at a given point of time .

Is this asking too much of you ? Could you post it on SD rather than

sending it to me , that way everyone can get the benefit of your largess.

Thanks mate , you are a real "dag" aye.

I'll see what I can do :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

Answer 10

Kiwi do you have a "lesson" on these two verbs , I am in need of one ? - ray76

Sure do buddy Ser vs Estar Lesson

Answer 11

Hola, Kiwi-Girl,

The 24 questions are neat and the explanation for the answer to each question is great. I didn't do very well at the first time but I learned a lot. However, I still have some questions about the test.

Let's compare Q1 with Q2.

Q1. ¿Cómo ___ Juanita? Ella ____ muy buena.

(What’s Juanita like? She’s a hottie!)

Q2. Ella ___ muy guapa.

(She is very attractive.)

In my opinion, when you ask me what someone is like, shouldn't I tell you what he/she is like, or his/her characteristic? I mean, you ask me by using" ¿Cómo es Juanita?", shouldn't I answer with "Ella es..."?

If there is a sentence "Ella ____ muy guapa" or "Ella ____ muy buena" without any other context, is it always better to choose "ser" instead of "estar"?

Q3. La maestra ______ contenta porque hice mi tarea a tiempo.

(The teacher was happy because I did my homework on time.)

The answer is estaba. You told us that ‘estar’ is used for emotions and the imperfect tense is good for emotional states. Is it a set rule? My question may be very silly. If the sentence is written as "The teacher was happy whenever I did my homework on time", then I will choose imperfect tense, not preterit tense.

Well done Joy for your first question yes, if some was to ask you 'what someone is like' you would always use 'ser' but the thing with Spanish is that 'cómo' is used with 'ser' and 'estar'- one mean's 'what is someone like' and the other means - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

'how is someone' so it's important to know which one to use. For the emotions question, even if you're referring to a specific situation it's hard to pinpoint the moment when the person began and stopped being happy so the imperfect is generally the best - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

choice. But of course that's not to say that you can't ever use the preterite with emotions. If you really want to emphasise the emotion as an event rather than a background you could say something like, 'cuando lo vi me enojé - but using the preterite - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

often suggests a beginning or an ending to the emotion so it would likely be translated as 'I got angry' rather than 'I was angry'. I hope that's helped. - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

(ups 'means ' on the second line not mean's- not sure how that apostrophe got in there jaja) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 24, 2014

Muchas gracias, Kiwi-Girl. Your explanation helps a lot. - joygogo, Jan 24, 2014

no worries :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 25, 2014