Ser vs Estar.... help with a specific example

Question

My Spanish teacher gave me this text to read: Si usted esta tratando de bajar de peso, debe hacerse unas preguntas sencillas. Son muy grandes mis porciones de comida? Estoy comiendo alementos saludables? Mientras mas se esfuerce en cambiar su conducta, hay mas probabilidades de que baje de peso

My question is, WHY is the "ser" verb used when speaking of the portion size, and the "estar" verb used when talking about eating healthy foods?

Can someone explain to me the difference? Shouldn't "estar" be used in both cases?

So confusing! Thanks!

Please fill out your profile so that we may better help you . Bienvenido al foro , buena suerte amiga. - ray76, Feb 28, 2015

Answer 1

.¿Son muy grandes mis porciones de comida?

Are my food portions very large?

Here ser is being used to describe an intrinsic characterestic, as an adjective. Size normally is a defining characteristic, and will generally use ser. I think exceptions can be made- but it indicates something outside what you expect- Tu hijo está muy alto- your son is very tall for his age as in he is growing faster than I would expect. But the norm is ser. Ser with an adjective defines something, gives its characteristics, what is is- estar describes the condition or state something is in, what it is being.

¿Estoy comiendo alimentos saludables?

Am I eating health foods?

This is the present progressive tense. It will always use estar, as that is how the present progressive is used. It is weird in the context here- I would say ¿Como alimentos saludables?- Do I eat healthy foods. Present progressive in Spanish means you are the in the midst of the action- so really you would only ask that question if you were in the middle of a meal (if it were not kind of rhetorical anyway).

Well explained - 005faa61, Feb 28, 2015

Thanks, Julian. :) - bosquederoble, Feb 28, 2015

"Am I heating healthy foods?" , - Yeiyei, Feb 28, 2015

Thank you, this was a big help! - grimm1111, Mar 1, 2015

De nada, and yes, I missed the y on healthy. :) - bosquederoble, Mar 1, 2015

Sí, muy bien explicado Bosque :) - FELIZ77, Mar 1, 2015

The foods are healthful, the person eating them is healthy. - Jack-OBrien, Mar 1, 2015

Clearly I understood it, and it was just a typo- as I used it correctly shortly thereafter in my rewrite- let he who hath never made a typo cast stones. - bosquederoble, Mar 1, 2015

Answer 2

Thank you, this was a big help!

Then thank him by filling out your profile. - ray76, Mar 1, 2015

Lol hahaha very true but funny Ray:) - FELIZ77, Mar 1, 2015