Which should I use in this sentence: ser or estar?

Question

Tengo que respetar mi jefe, pero a veces está difícil.

o

Tengo que respetar mi jefe, pero a veces es difícil.

Answer 1

You would use the verb ser in this case,

Tengo que respetar a mi jefe, pero a veces es difícil.

You need the personal a here because you are showing respect to another person. You would still need to use the personal a even if you were talking about showing respect to a friend,. child, a member of your family or a pet. You would also use the personal pronoun Usted (Ud) when talking to your boss or someone in authority such as a police officer to show respect.

You would also use Ser for sentences like: Es importante que = It's important that. , Es bueno saber = It's good to know. Es la una = It's one o'clock Es muy inteligente = He/she is very intelligent

I hope this helps

You are welcome, Max

Gracias por la ayuda. - theMax, Apr 3, 2014

Well done with the personal a Feliz, I too would lean towards the use of ser but I wouldn't say that estar would be beyond the realms if possibility. ;) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 3, 2014

Kiwi, I have never seen estar used for this kind of sentence. I have always seen ser eg: es bueno saber - FELIZ77, Apr 3, 2014

you probably have Feliz, how about 'la cena está deliciosa' (see note on my post below) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 4, 2014

Answer 2

I too would favour ser but I'd say that both are possible. If your comment is subjective (purely your opinion or if you're limiting his difficultness (is that a word?) to say, a certain occasion) you could use está but if it's a universal truth lol, ie a generality you would use es.

If you want to avoid the brain strain of deciding you could use 'resulta'.

I would agree with you about statements made concerning universal truths using ser, Kiwi girl . However, I have never heard of using, estar for the reason/s you mention above - FELIZ77, Apr 3, 2014

You have probably come across it Feliz but maybe without realizing why it's happening, it's the reason why you would say 'la cena está deliciosa' and not 'la cena es deliciosa' - it's your opinion not a universal truth, someone else might not like it at - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 4, 2014

all ;) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 4, 2014

Answer 3

Generally, if you use Ser, the adjective is a characteristic of the person or thing you are describing; whereas if you use Estar, it is a description of a mood or appearance and You may have heard that Ser is used for things which are permanent and Estar is used for things which are temporary. For your case I think it's a permanent characteristic of the thing you are describing.

Ser is used for personal characeristics and for telling the time and estar for emotions and location that is true, but the permanent v temporary guideline is an oversimplification and can lead to confusion. - FELIZ77, Apr 3, 2014

I have read comments by native Spanish speakers such as Lazarus, in the past, about this that led me to realize that this is not really accurate and can actually be misleading - FELIZ77, Apr 3, 2014