Use ser for what something is: identity, origin, profession, material, time, and where an event takes place. Use estar for how or where something is: physical location, feelings, conditions, the result of a change, and the progressive (estoy comiendo). Forget permanent vs temporary; it fails on está muerto and es joven.
Most English speakers learn that ser is for permanent things and estar for temporary ones. It works often enough to feel true, then collapses. Death is about as permanent as it gets, yet Spanish says está muerto. Youth is temporary, yet you say es joven. Madrid is not moving anywhere, but Madrid está en España. A party lasts three hours, but la fiesta es en mi casa.
A rule that survives all of those: ser classifies (what kind of thing, who, from where, when it happens), estar describes a state or a position (how it is right now, where it physically sits). Dead is a state someone ended up in, so estar. Young is a category you belong to, so ser.
| Use | Verb | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity, name | ser | Es mi hermana. | She is my sister. |
| Origin, nationality | ser | Soy de Chicago. | I am from Chicago. |
| Profession | ser | Soy enfermera. | I am a nurse. |
| Material | ser | La mesa es de madera. | The table is wooden. |
| Time, date | ser | Son las tres. Es lunes. | It is three. It is Monday. |
| Where an event happens | ser | El concierto es en el parque. | The concert is in the park. |
| Location of a person or thing | estar | Las llaves están en la mesa. | The keys are on the table. |
| Feelings, health | estar | Estoy cansado. Está enferma. | I am tired. She is sick. |
| Result of a change | estar | La tienda está cerrada. | The store is closed. |
| Action in progress | estar | Estamos cenando. | We are having dinner. |
Two of these trip up English speakers constantly. First, professions take no article after ser: Soy profesor, not Soy un profesor. The article comes back only when you add a description: Es un profesor muy exigente. Second, the event row. English uses "is in" for both the concert and the keys, so learners say El concierto está en el parque. Spanish treats an event as something that takes place, and that is ser.
This is where the choice stops being grammar trivia and starts changing what you say. The same adjective describes a trait with ser and a current state with estar, and sometimes the two meanings drift far apart.
| Adjective | With ser | With estar |
|---|---|---|
| aburrido | boring | bored |
| listo | clever, smart | ready |
| rico | rich | delicious (food) |
| malo | bad (a bad person or thing) | sick, or gone bad (food) |
| verde | green (color) | unripe; also inexperienced |
| vivo | lively, sharp | alive |
| seguro | safe | sure, certain |
| despierto | alert, quick-witted | awake |
| orgulloso | arrogant, proud by nature | proud of something |
The classic English-speaker slip is Soy aburrido when you mean "I'm bored." You have just told the room you are a boring person. Say Estoy aburrido (or aburrida). Likewise, Soy listo announces that you are clever; if you mean you are ready to go, it is Estoy listo. At the table, ¡Está muy rico! praises the plate in front of you. Say es muy rico about the cook and you are talking about his bank account; with a dish, es rico is a general verdict (el mole es rico), not a reaction to this bite.
With ser, an adjective is your general verdict. With estar, it is how something looks, tastes, or feels at this moment. Eres guapa means "you're beautiful." ¡Qué guapa estás! means "you look great today." Este restaurante es bueno is your general verdict on the place, while la sopa está salada means this bowl, today, is too salty. English often uses "look" or "taste" for the estar meaning, which is a good hint: if you could add "looks" or "tastes" in English, Spanish probably wants estar.
English "the door was closed" is ambiguous: an action or a state. Spanish splits it. La puerta fue cerrada por el portero uses ser for the action (someone closed it). La puerta estaba cerrada uses estar for the state you found it in. In everyday speech the ser passive is rare; Spanish prefers el portero cerró la puerta or se cerró la puerta. So when you describe how things are, reach for estar: el museo está cerrado los lunes, la cena está lista.
Some English "to be" sentences use neither. Weather mostly takes hacer: hace frío, hace calor, never es frío. Being hungry, thirsty, cold, or a certain age takes tener: tengo hambre, tengo frío, tengo treinta años. "There is" is hay: hay un banco en la esquina, not está un banco. That last one matters: use hay to introduce something new, and estar once it is already known (el banco está en la esquina).
The choice becomes automatic only when you hear yourself say it in context: ordering at a café and saying the food is delicious, telling someone where you are from, explaining you are tired after a long trip. Practicing those exchanges out loud with a tutor, such as Polly in PollyStop, who catches the slip as it happens, is how the choice turns into a reflex.
Only roughly. Estar is used for death (está muerto) and for the location of things that never move (Madrid está en España), while ser is used for age categories like joven and for events. Think identity and classification for ser, state and position for estar.
Estoy casado or estoy casada is the most common choice for marital status in everyday speech, because marriage is a state you entered. Soy casado is also heard in some places when stating it as a category, but estar is the safe default.
When the subject is an event, such as a party, meeting, class or concert, Spanish uses ser to say where it takes place. Estar is for the physical location of people and objects.
Estar. Ask ¿Dónde está el baño? or ¿Dónde está la farmacia? If you are asking whether one exists nearby, use hay: ¿Hay una farmacia por aquí?
