¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?

Today we are going to continue looking at how to make descriptions in Spanish and specifically how to describe personality and feelings.

To describe how someone feels, if they are happy, sad, angry, etc, we use the verb “Estar” (to be). We have already looked at the verb “Ser” which is another version of the verb “to be” that is used in different situations and today we will introduce “Estar”.

“Ser” and “Estar” are two of the most important verbs in Spanish and it is crucial to understand the differences between them and when to use one or the other. This is a little tricky at first and not something that can be mastered in one lesson, but we will work on it together throughout the course and gradually you will become completely clear on it.

Let´s see first how to conjugate the verb “Estar”:

Estar: To be

(Yo) estoy: I am
(Tú) estás: You are (informal)
(Usted) está: You are (formal)
(Él) está: He is
(Ella) está: She is
(Nosotros) estamos: We are
(Vosotros) estáis: You (group) are (informal)
(Ustedes) están: You (group) are (formal)
(Ellos/ellas) están: They are

No estoy: I am not
No estás: You aren´t

Next, we will see some vocabulary related to feelings which we will later match with the verb “Estar” to talk about how someone feels:

Contento/a: happy
Triste: sad
Enfadado/a: angry
Nervioso/a: nervous
Tranquilo/a: calm
Aburrido/a: bored
Cansado/a: tired
Preocupado/a: worried

It is important to know that if we are talking about more than one person we will add “S” to the word if it finishes in a vowel and “ES” if it finishes in a consonant. For example: “contento”, will be “contentos” if we are saying that various people are happy. Also, bear in mind that the words which finish in an “O” will change to an “A” when we are talking about someone female “Contento”, for example, changes to “contenta” if we are saying that a girl is happy.

Let´s see now some examples of the verb “Estar” with this vocabulary:

Estoy contento / contenta: I am happy
Estamos contentos/ contentas: We are happy
¿Estás cansado /cansada?: Are you tired?
¿Estáis cansados / cansadas?: Are you (group) tired?
Antonio está preocupado: Antonio is worried
María está preocupada: María is worried
Antonio y María están preocupados: Antonio and María are worried

When we want to talk about how someone is “permanently” – about their personality – we use the verb “Ser” rather than “Estar” as this describes permanent states. Let´s see some vocabulary related to personality and then some example sentences using the verb “Ser”:

Alegre: happy
Amable: kind
Divertido/a: good fun
Simpático/a: friendly
Aburrido/a: boring
Ordenado/a: tidy
Vago/a: lazy
Listo/a: clever
Soy ordenado / ordenada: I am tidy
Somos ordenados / ordenadas: we are tidy
Eres divertido/a: you are good fun
Ustedes son aburridos: you are boring (group/ formal)

This is all for today. It is very important to understand when to use “Ser” and when to use “Estar”. In future lessons we will see more examples of their use in specific sentences and you will develop a feel for how and when to use one or the other. For now I recommend that you just concentrate on remembering how each is conjugated and how to use them correctly when describing people. You can try to write a description of someone you know with the information of today´s class and the previous class which looked at Physical Descriptions.

I hope very much that you are enjoying your Spanish studies and wish you a wonderful week. See you next time.

¡Adiós!