Ser o estar casado
To be married: Is the correct translation with ser or estar? I have seen it translated both ways, ie, "estoy casado" or "soy casado." Does it differ from one Spanish speaking country to another?
9 Answers
I once asked this question of a professor of mine, and her answer was that different people spoke of marriage in different ways, depending on how they thought of marriage. Some use ser because it seems sacrilegious to not, while others use estar because it simply is a state of being. She followed up her response by adding that some people are just more ser people, and others are more estar people. Some are more preterite, and others are more imperfect. Some are more indicative; others are more subjunctive, and so on. In other words, there is gray area, and it is often simply a matter of choice, usually dependent on how one thinks about a certain topic.
In Spain, all people say "estar casado" never "soy casado". Maybe in some old texts appears "era casado".but nowadays no way.
But i think that in some country of south America they used "ser casado"
Let us remember that ser is used for inherent characteristics, while estar is used for state or condition.
It is sort-of like saying, "Ella está muerta" -- "She is dead." Death is permanent, but being dead is a condition.
I have trouble with that, too. Here is a link to another dictionary. Note the various ways of using married: (Soy casado y no soltero I would say for myself)
For what it's worth, the Pimsleur Spanish program (Latin American version) always used "estar" with "casado/a". It used "estar" with "divorciado" as well, lending credence to the proposition that maybe marriage isn't so permanent any more.
Both are correct, just depends on how one perceives of the state of being married. For me marriage is an eternal bond that should ideally go on for ever (unless my partner turns out to be a devil, ha) so I prefer using "ser" because using "estar" I don't want to imply a temporary state of being as far as my marriage is concerned but many people use estar perhaps looking at the unstable marriages all around which don't last much .. which is a very sad situation .. I am scared of marrying now (because I don't wan't the "estar" type of relationship) ..
"Soy casada" could mean, "I am a married woman" Estoy casada could mean." I (a woman) am married. This refers to her social status, (estado social) I think there is another name for it, but I forget. Like others here I have heard it both ways, but I think that my explanation gives the reasons for this.
Ser would seem to make more sense since it is usually meant to be a state of some permanence.
As spanish native speaker, i have read in this thread a lot of theories about the permanance state or not. When you learn a language not all have sense. Sometimes you must learn each particular case because there is not a general rule. This is one of those. Do not lose time with this because it does not worth.
