Can somebody please help me with an estar problem?

Question

Hola amigos and amigas, I am having a little bit of a problem, my Spanish teacher says I am translating Estar wrong but I am not sure what I am doing wrong so I am unsure how to correct my error , can somebody please tell me what I am doing wrong? Here are my translations

Estoy = I am

Estás = you are

Está = He is, she is , you are

Estamos = We are

Estáis = you all are

Están = They are, you are

Here are my answers he said were incorrect:

1. Mi amiga y yo estamos bien.

2. Luisa está excelente

3. Yo no estoy muy bien.

4. ¿Cómo están ustedes?

5.¿ Cómo estás tu?

All help is highly appreciated.

can you give an example? Is it a case of using ser where it should be estar or vice versa - Mardle, Jan 8, 2016

Yes I can put up some examples. - Nickelbackfan1, Jan 9, 2016

Answer 1

Hello Nickel,

Well done, all your examples of conjugating the verb estar in your post are correct.

Could you please give us some examples of sentences which your teacher said are wrong/incorrect?

Although you have not received a lesson on the use of ser, it is still possible that you could still be using estar when you should be using Ser.

The verb ser, for example, should be used for indicating, among other things:

1.Characteristics eg: Soy alto = I am tall. Eres inteligente = You are intelligent.

2.Professions: eg: (Él) Es maestro. = He is a teacher Ellos son electricistas = They are electricians

3.Time Ser is always used for telling the time in Spanish

eg: Son las cuatro de la tarde = It is four o 'clock in the afternoon.

Our native teacher Daniela has written an excellent post about the difference between ser and estar.

As soon as we see some of the examples your teacher was talking about we will have a clearer idea how to help you!

Okay, thank you, you gave us these examples:

Here are my answers he said were incorrect: Mi amiga y yo estamos bien.Luisa está excelent. Yo no estoy muy bien ¿Cómo están ustedes? 5.¿ Cómo estás tu?

1.Mi amiga y yo estamos bien. = My friend and I are well.

2.Luisa es excelente. The verb ser is used as we are talking about a characteristic/personal trait here.

3.No estoy muy bien. You do not need the personal pronoun here as estoy is already conjugated to mean I am not very well. However, the Spanish also say, Estoy mal = I am not well.

4.¿Cómo están ustedes? = How are you? / ¿Cómo están ellos? = How are they?

5.¿Cómo estás? You don't really need the personal pronoun since tú can only refer t familiar, second person form of 'you'.

I hope this helps

Corrijan mi español, si es necesario, por favor

Sure mate I will put my answers up . :) - Nickelbackfan1, Jan 9, 2016

Thank you, Nickel :) - FELIZ77, Jan 9, 2016

No thank you Feliz. :) - Nickelbackfan1, Jan 9, 2016

Gracias Feliz for both the answer and the correction, my auto correct is really killing me today. :) - Nickelbackfan1, Jan 9, 2016

You are welcome, Nickel :) - FELIZ77, Jan 9, 2016

Answer 2

You are correct my friend!

Where is your teacher from?

:) - ian-hill, Jan 8, 2016

Gracias Chileno . :) - Nickelbackfan1, Jan 8, 2016

PS he is american. - Nickelbackfan1, Jan 8, 2016

Estoy de acudrdo don Chileno. Your answers are good. Now you've got it from two native speakers. One fron Chile and the other from Spain. - Daniela2041, Jan 9, 2016

¡Ay! Estoy de acuerdo C O N Chileno. - Daniela2041, Jan 9, 2016

Donde ay, que yo también quiero... :) - chileno, Jan 9, 2016

Nickel. OK, I understand his/her confusion. - chileno, Jan 9, 2016

Answer 3

The only things I might suggest is that "está" can also mean "it is." Maybe your teacher also wanted you to say whether the "you" forms were formal or informal? I think that would be very picky, if that's the case.

Good luck.

Thanks winkfish. I will have to ask him if that is what he wanted me to do, if not I am clueless. - Nickelbackfan1, Jan 8, 2016

Answer 4

Hi, Nikki:This might not have anything to do with your question but a few weeks back I wrote a pretty good article on Ser and Estar. Here's a linkie.

Dani's ser and estar

Great link! - rac1, Jan 9, 2016

Yes, it is an awesome link! - jrschenk, Jan 9, 2016

Gracias Dani. :) - Nickelbackfan1, Jan 9, 2016