Ser y Estar usage question
So I have read the written definitions and seen some examples of them. Ser being the essential while estar being the conditions basically. Still I find myself confuse everytime I try to say the location of something.
Estar is used to express geographic or physical locations except when it's about some sort of event where you use ser.
La tarjeta esta en mi bolsillo versus es en mi bolsillo. I would use esta which I guess is right since it answers where something is, but something like "which is my room" is translated to ¿Cuál es mi habitación? in duolingo.
It does sound better with ser and I can kinda see it being related to the "essense" of something. Is this because it's talking about a quality of the room, such as ownership, and not where the room is located? Couldn't I respond by saying it's the final one? Esta la final en el hall vs es la final en el hall ...
Lastly, would the title be Ser e Estar? "e" sounded like "y" imo.
Hope someone can clear it up for me.
2 Answers
My opinion:
You are on the right track (the wrong one, of course being that idiotic permanent and temporary)
For a location- a thing is not defined by its location. A spoon is a spoon whether on the table or floor. One might argue that Paris might not be Paris if you moved it to Germany, but that is splitting hairs.
The one time in Spanish that a location defines something is an event- a party at my house is a party at my house, not a party at your house.
Again you could argue it all, so the right approach is learn how the words are used in Spanish and fit those uses into your framework, because that is in essence what is correct usage, and the framework is just how you attempt to approximate it. You will never win an argument by saying it doesn’t fit whatever definition you like to use, because what is right is always how Spanish speakers agree to use the words, and not whatever definition we try to come up with to try to explain it.
I would say es el último cuarto del pasillo ( it is the last room of the hall)- because that is what it is- the last room of the hall
Or (el cuarto) está ubicado al final del pasillo (it is located at the end of the hall)- because that is where it is located.
It is an “i” sound that changes y to e- not an e (“hi” for instance counts as an “i” sound)
You are right
You will respond: it is the final one on the hall. Es la del final del pasillo.
But if the question is where is my room?. It is at the end of the Hall. Está al final del pasillo.
If I have not done a lot of mistakes using English as is usuall in me. I can see that the diference also is obvious in English
