"She is" and "He is"

Question

When I searched "she is kind" on a translator, it translated as "ella es amable". That makes sense, but when I translated "she is crazy it said the translation was, "esta loca". Why was "she is" translated differently? Similar things happened when translating "he is". Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

Answer 1

This is basic ser vs. estar- both are forms of to be (is)

There are many lessons out there-here is ours.

http://www.spanishdict.com/guide/ser-vs-estar

At the simplest think of ser as being with defining characteristics, and estar as with states and conditions.

Some will tell you ser is permanent and estar temporary- but that is wrong, yes states and conditions can be shortlived- something can be in the state of being broken, or someone can be dead, these are not natural conditions, they use estar, even though they can be permanent. On the other hand a child is by definition a child, for he is a child, use ser, despite it being temporary.

For your specific - when someone is kind, they are a kind person, it is a characteristic. So use ser. When someone is crazy it is an unnatural condition, use estar.

You must use these as Spanish speakers do- we may think of someone's craziness as a characteristic but it is not that way in Spanish. To some extent it is useful to learn which verb is most associated with a given adjective with the adjective.

Many can be used with either, depending on how intrinsic you want to make it seem- but some are only right with one-

Some change meaning with the verb

aburrido- él es aburrido- he is a boring person, it is his characteristic

él está aburrido- he is )in the state of being) bored

Very different.

There is too much to put it in one answer on ser vs. estar- but hopefully I gave enough of a flavor as to why the two specific ones you mention are different.

Thanks Bosque. I had incorrectly thought "es loco" referred to the characteristic of craziness, while "ésta loco" referred to the condition. You can still refer to someone as a crazy person using ser though can't you? As in "Ella es una loca."? - jellonz, Mar 21, 2017

Yes, ser can be used with loco- I was answering on a basic level. I think"ser" with loco implies more "wild and crazy" as a personality, and not the sense of having a mental illness that "estar" does. :) - bosquederoble, Mar 21, 2017

Gracias Bosque. - m_fifty, Mar 21, 2017

De nada. :) - bosquederoble, Mar 21, 2017

Answer 2

I have watched many Ser vs Estar videos on YouTube. I have posted a link to my favorite. This probably isn't the best for a beginner, because it is completely in Spanish, but if you put on the Spanish subtitles, you may get the drift.

It does a great job of explaining, for example, why dead and alive use estar...even though these states (especially being dead) seem to be part of one's essence, as much as being tall, or fat, etc. which generally use ser. I say generally, because if you see someone who used to be fat, and now they have lost a lot of weight, you might use estar to make a comment about how thin they are now. However, after that, you would use ser to say that they are delgado/a.

By the way...the dead vs. alive thing is very tied to the catholic / Christian belief in the afterlife.

Ser vs Estar - driven by religious beliefs