Part 1 · Elements of a Sentence

Estar, Ser, and Subject Pronouns

Two verbs for 'to be,' and Spanish never confuses them once you know the split.

Spanish splits English's one 'to be' into two verbs: estar (temporary: location, health, mood) and ser (permanent: identity, origin, profession). Which one you pick changes the sentence's meaning, sometimes even flipping an adjective's meaning. You'll also meet subject pronouns, especially the many forms of 'you' (tú, usted, vos, vosotros, ustedes).

Use the correct 'you' for formality and country.
Conjugate and use estar for temporary states.
Conjugate and use ser for permanent facts.
Choose ser vs. estar when describing someone.
Explain why some adjectives flip meaning by verb.

Subject Pronouns: Five Ways to Say 'You'

What You're learning the Spanish subject pronouns, I, you, he, she, we, they, and specifically the fact that 'you' splits into several different words depending on formality, region, and how many people you're talking to.

Why Picking the wrong 'you' isn't a small mistake, it can come across as too casual with your boss, or oddly stiff with a friend. Since this word shows up in nearly every sentence you'll ever speak, getting comfortable with the options now, and knowing which ones apply where you're actually headed, pays off immediately.

How Use tú for a friend, family, or peer; usted for strangers, elders, or formal settings; for groups, Spain uses vosotros (informal) and ustedes (formal); Latin America uses ustedes for any group; some regions use vos instead of tú, with its own endings.

In English English lost this distinction, 'you' works for one person or a hundred, stranger or friend. Old English had 'thou' (informal) and 'you' (formal/plural), the same split Spanish still runs on; Spain and Latin America later simplified it differently.

Tú eres mi mejor amigo.
You are my best friend.
Tú for someone close: a friend, sibling, or peer.
¿Usted es el doctor García?
Are you Doctor García?
Usted for a stranger, here a doctor's first visit.
Nosotros vivimos en Bogotá.
We live in Bogotá.
Ellos son mis primos.
They are my cousins.
Ellos covers an all-male group or a mixed group of men and women.
Ellas están en la fiesta.
They are at the party.
Ellas is used only when every person in the group is female.
¿Vosotros venís a la fiesta?
Are you all coming to the party?
Vosotros is Spain's informal plural 'you,' used only there.
Regional · SpainElsewhere: Mexico ¿Ustedes vienen a la fiesta? · Colombia ¿Ustedes vienen a la fiesta?
¿Ustedes vienen a la fiesta?
Are you all coming to the party?
Mexico and Colombia use ustedes for any group, formal or not.
Regional · MexicoElsewhere: Spain ¿Vosotros venís a la fiesta?
¿Vos tenés hambre?
Are you hungry?
Vos (Medellín, Cali) replaces tú: tenés instead of tienes.
Regional · ColombiaElsewhere: Spain ¿Tú tienes hambre? · Mexico ¿Tú tienes hambre?
Él es mi hermano y ella es mi hermana.
He is my brother and she is my sister.
Él for one male, ella for one female; no neuter 'it.'

The Singular Pronouns

Subject pronouns, singular

Spanish	English	When to use it
yo	I	always the same, no formality split
tú	you (informal)	friends, family, peers, kids
usted (Ud.)	you (formal)	strangers, elders, professional settings
él	he	one male person (or male animal)
ella	she	one female person (or female animal)

There's no word for 'it'

Spanish has no subject pronoun for 'it.' Él/ella cover people; objects need none, the verb conjugation carries the meaning.

The Plural Pronouns

Subject pronouns, plural

Spanish	English	When to use it
nosotros/nosotras	we	nosotros for a mixed or all-male group, nosotras for all-female
vosotros/vosotras	you all (informal)	Spain only, informal group
ustedes (Uds.)	you all	everywhere else, any group; also formal plural in Spain
ellos	they	a mixed or all-male group
ellas	they	an all-female group

The Map: tú, usted, vos, vosotros, ustedes Across Spain, Mexico, and Colombia

This is the part worth slowing down for, because the same word for 'you' behaves differently depending on where you are. Picture three separate systems layered on the same five words.

How 'you' works, country by country

	Spain	Mexico	Colombia
Informal, one person	tú	tú	tú (coastal, young speakers), usted (Bogotá, very common even between close friends), vos (Medellín, Cali)
Formal, one person	usted	usted	usted
Informal, group	vosotros/vosotras	ustedes (no vosotros)	ustedes (no vosotros)
Formal, group	ustedes	ustedes	ustedes

Vosotros only exists in Spain

Outside Spain you'll never need to produce vosotros, ustedes covers it. Still recognize it, you'll hear it in Spanish films, music, and from Spaniards.

Usted isn't just for strangers in Colombia

In Bogotá especially, usted shows up between close friends, siblings, and even romantic couples, not just with strangers or elders the way it works in Spain or Mexico. It's a warmth marker as much as a formality marker there, don't read it as coldness.

Vos in the Paisa region

Around Medellín and Cali, vos replaces tú with its own endings (vos tenés, vos querés, vos sos). Recognizing it now keeps you from getting thrown off later.

Spain

Tú for friends and family, usted for anyone you don't know well or want to show respect to, and vosotros for any informal group, the only country where you'll actually need to produce it.

Mexico

Tú moves in fast with peers, usted appears immediately with strangers, elders, or in business, and ustedes covers every group, formal or not, since vosotros isn't used.

Colombia

Usted is used unusually broadly, even with close friends and family in Bogotá; tú shows up on the coast and with younger speakers; vos is common in Medellín and Cali with its own verb forms.

Spain

Vosotros is the real dividing line: only Spain uses it, and only for an informal group.

Mexico

No vosotros at all; ustedes handles every plural 'you.' Usted with strangers and elders, tú with peers, switching quickly once you're comfortable.

Colombia

No vosotros either. What stands out here is how far usted travels into casual, affectionate relationships, plus the regional presence of vos around Medellín and Cali.

The full story and practice exercises for this section are in the app.

Estar: Location, Health, and Anything That Can Change

What You're learning to conjugate estar, one of Spanish's two verbs for 'to be,' and its main jobs: saying where something is, how someone's feeling, and describing a temporary condition.

Why You'll reach for estar constantly, saying where you are, how you're doing, whether you're tired, sick, happy, or annoyed. It's one of the first verbs you conjugate correctly and use in nearly every conversation, from a text to a friend to answering 'how are you' at the start of any interaction.

How Estar is irregular, so its forms have to be learned directly rather than built from a pattern. Once conjugated, it covers location (where something is), health (how someone's feeling physically), and condition or mood (happy, tired, angry, open, closed), especially states that can shift from one moment to the next.

In English English doesn't split location and identity into two different verbs, 'I am tired' and 'I am from Texas' both use 'am.' Spanish's estar is the half of 'to be' reserved for the parts of you that shift, where you're standing right now, how you're feeling today, whether the door happens to be open.

Estoy en la oficina.
I am at the office.
Location: estoy tells you where the speaker is.
¿Dónde estás?
Where are you?
A question you'll use constantly, texting or calling someone.
Ella está cansada después del trabajo.
She's tired after work.
Condition: cansada can change from one hour to the next.
Estamos bien, gracias.
We're well, thanks.
Health: a standard reply to '¿cómo están?'
¿Cómo estás hoy?
How are you today?
The word 'hoy' (today) underlines that this asks about a state that can change.
Los niños están felices en el parque.
The kids are happy at the park.
Plural subject, plural verb: están; felices agrees in number with los niños.
La puerta está abierta.
The door is open.
Objects use estar too, since their condition can change.
¿Estás listo para salir?
Are you ready to leave?
Estoy re contento con el trabajo nuevo.
I'm really happy with the new job.
'Re' as intensifier is casual Spain slang for 'muy.'
Regional · SpainElsewhere: Mexico Estoy súper contento con el trabajo nuevo. · Colombia Estoy súper contento con el trabajo nuevo.
La comida está deliciosa, de verdad.
The food is delicious, really.
Estar with food describes taste right now, not a trait.

Conjugating Estar

estar (to be (location, condition, health), present)

yo estoy

tú estás

él/ella está

nosotros estamos

vosotros estáis

ellos están

Estar is irregular in the yo form (estoy, not the -o you'd expect from a regular -ar verb) and carries a written accent on every form except yo and nosotros.

él, ella, and usted share a form

Está covers he, she, and formal you (usted), all at once. Están covers they and formal you all (ustedes). Context, or a pronoun you add for clarity, tells you which one is meant.

Job One: Location

Estar answers 'where.' Anytime you're placing something physically, a person, a building, an object, in space, estar is the verb. This holds true even for things that never move, like a city's location, because the sentence is describing the physical fact of where something sits, not what it fundamentally is.

Madrid está en España.
Madrid is in Spain.
El restaurante está cerca de aquí.
The restaurant is close to here.
Mis llaves están en la mesa.
My keys are on the table.

Job Two: Health

How someone's feeling physically, sick, well, tired, energetic, uses estar. This overlaps with condition, since health can shift day to day, but it's worth calling out on its own because 'how are you' is one of the very first things you'll say in any conversation.

Estoy enfermo hoy.
I'm sick today.
¿Cómo está tu abuela?
How is your grandmother?

Job Three: Condition and Mood

Estar handles a mood or state that could plausibly shift: happy, angry, open, closed, busy, ready. The test isn't whether it's true right now, it's whether the state is the kind of thing that naturally changes.

Estoy nervioso antes del examen.
I'm nervous before the exam.
La tienda está cerrada los domingos.
The store is closed on Sundays.
Estamos ocupados esta semana.
We're busy this week.

Estar = a snapshot

Think of estar as a photograph: it captures how something looks or where it sits at this exact moment. Take the picture again next week and the answer might be completely different.

Spain

Estar conjugates identically; you'll hear intensifiers like 'estoy fatal' (I'm awful) or 'estoy hecho polvo' (I'm exhausted) added onto it in casual speech.

Mexico

Same conjugation; diminutive softeners are common, 'estoy cansadito' said affectionately, and 'ahorita estoy' (I'm around right now, sort of) leans on the flexible meaning of ahorita.

Colombia

Same conjugation; 'estoy que no más' (I've had it, I'm done) and similar vivid expressions are common, plus frequent use of 'qué pena' to soften a request while explaining a condition.

Spain

No grammar change; expect vivid, informal condition-adjectives in daily speech, fatal, hecho polvo.

Mexico

No grammar change; diminutives often attach to the adjective after estar to soften it, cansadito, ocupadito.

Colombia

No grammar change; you'll hear colorful condition phrases and frequent softeners like qué pena layered around estar sentences.

The full story and practice exercises for this section are in the app.

Ser: Identity, Origin, Profession, Time, and Possession

What You're learning to conjugate ser, the other Spanish verb for 'to be,' and its main jobs: saying who or what something fundamentally is, where it's originally from, what someone does for work, what time it is, and who owns something.

Why Ser handles the facts about you and the world that don't shift day to day: your name, your nationality, your job, what something is made of, who something belongs to. You'll use it to introduce yourself, describe your background, and talk about your life in any conversation past 'hello.'

How Ser is also irregular and has to be memorized. Once conjugated, use it for description of an essential trait, profession, where someone or something originates from, identification (relationships, nationality, religion), telling time, material something is made of, and possession.

In English English just uses 'am/is/are' for all of this: 'I am a teacher,' 'I am from Chicago,' 'it is three o'clock.' Ser covers the fixed parts of identity, what you are, not how you're doing.

Soy de Los Ángeles.
I'm from Los Angeles.
Origin: soy de + place.
Ella es ingeniera.
She is an engineer.
Profession: no article needed before an unmodified job title in Spanish.
Somos amigos desde la universidad.
We're friends since college.
Identification: describing a relationship.
Son las tres de la tarde.
It's three in the afternoon.
Telling time always uses ser: son for plural hours, es for one o'clock.
La lámpara es de metal.
The lamp is made of metal.
Material: ser + de + the material something is made of.
El carro es de mi hermano.
The car is my brother's.
Possession: ser + de + the owner, since Spanish has no apostrophe-s.
Eres muy inteligente.
You are very intelligent.
A trait treated as a stable part of someone's personality, not a passing mood.
¿De dónde eres tú?
Where are you from?
De never ends a Spanish sentence; it moves before dónde.
Regional · MexicoElsewhere: Colombia ¿De dónde sos vos?
La fiesta es en casa de Elena.
The party is at Elena's house.
Ser also states where an event takes place, not where an object physically sits.
Es la una de la mañana.
It's one in the morning.
With exactly one o'clock, use es, not son.

Conjugating Ser

ser (to be (identity, origin, profession, time, possession), present)

yo soy

tú eres

él/ella es

nosotros somos

vosotros sois

ellos son

Ser is one of the most irregular verbs in Spanish; none of its forms come from a predictable pattern, so it simply has to be memorized as its own shape.

Five Jobs for Ser

What ser describes

Job	Example	Meaning
Description (essential trait)	La casa es grande.	The house is big.
Profession	Soy médico.	I'm a doctor.
Origin	Somos de Perú.	We're from Peru.
Identification	Es mi hermana.	She's my sister.
Possession / material	Es de Juan. / Es de vidrio.	It's Juan's. / It's made of glass.

No article for an unmodified job

Spanish drops 'a/an' before a bare profession: Soy profesor, not Soy un profesor. Add a describing word and the article returns: Soy un profesor excelente (I'm an excellent teacher).

Ser and Time

Telling time always uses ser, never estar. Use es for one o'clock and son for every other hour: es la una, son las dos, son las diez.

Ser and Possession

Spanish has no apostrophe-s. Use ser + de + owner: el libro es de Ana ('the book is of Ana'). De + el contracts to del: el perro es del vecino.

Ser = the label on the box

If estar is a snapshot, ser is the label printed on the box: what it is, where it came from, who it belongs to, what it's made of. That information doesn't change if you photograph the box again tomorrow.

Spain

Ser conjugates identically; profession and origin sentences are the most common daily use, soy de Sevilla, soy profesor.

Mexico

Same conjugation; ¿de dónde eres? is one of the very first questions strangers ask each other, often followed quickly by asking someone's profession.

Colombia

Same conjugation; you'll frequently hear ser paired with vos in the Paisa region, ¿de dónde sos?, instead of the more standard eres.

Spain

No grammar change; identity questions (soy de..., soy...) are extremely common conversation openers in Spain just as everywhere else.

Mexico

No grammar change; asking someone's origin and profession early in a conversation is standard social script.

Colombia

No grammar change, though in the Paisa region you'll hear ser conjugated with vos (sos) instead of tú (eres) for the informal singular.

The full story and practice exercises for this section are in the app.

Ser vs. Estar: Choosing the Right 'To Be'

What You're learning how to choose correctly between ser and estar when both verbs seem grammatically possible, especially with adjectives, and how a handful of adjectives actually change meaning depending on which verb you pick.

Why This is the single most common mix-up English speakers make in Spanish, because English never forces the choice. Getting it right matters: 'ella es aburrida' (she's boring, a permanent trait) and 'ella está aburrida' (she's bored, a passing mood) are two completely different statements about the same person, built from the same words.

How Ask whether you're describing something essential, identity, origin, profession, a defining trait, or something that could plausibly be different an hour from now, location, health, mood, a temporary state; essential and defining facts take ser; temporary, changeable, or physically located facts take estar; a short list of adjectives flip meaning entirely between the two verbs.

In English English can't hear this distinction: 'she is happy' works whether she's naturally cheerful or happy right now. Spanish makes you decide every time, letting you say something more precise in a single sentence.

Ella es aburrida.
She is boring.
Ser: aburrida describes her personality, a defining trait.
Ella está aburrida.
She is bored.
Estar: aburrida here describes a passing mood, not her personality.
El café es rico.
The coffee is good (as a type of coffee).
Ser: describing the coffee as a category, a reliably good coffee.
El café está rico.
The coffee tastes good (right now, this cup).
Estar: describing how this specific cup tastes in this moment.
Juan es listo.
Juan is clever.
Ser: listo here means smart, a personality trait.
Juan está listo.
Juan is ready.
Estar: listo here means prepared, a temporary state.
La fruta es verde.
The fruit is green (that variety of fruit).
Ser: describing the fruit's color as a defining feature, like a green apple.
La fruta está verde.
The fruit is unripe.
Estar: verde here means unripe, a temporary stage the fruit will grow out of.
Mi hermano es muy alto.
My brother is very tall.
Height, once adulthood is reached, is treated as an essential trait: ser.
Estoy re contento con mi trabajo nuevo, tío.
I'm really happy with my new job, man.
A recent reaction uses estar; 'tío' is Spain's word for 'dude.'
Regional · SpainElsewhere: Mexico Estoy bien contento con mi trabajo nuevo, güey. · Colombia Estoy súper contento con mi trabajo nuevo, parce.

The Core Test

Before choosing a verb, ask yourself one question: is this the kind of fact that defines what something is, or a snapshot of how something happens to be right now? Identity, origin, profession, and defining traits point to ser. Location, health, and a mood or state that could shift point to estar.

ser: the label on the box

Identity, origin, profession, relationships, material, possession, time. Facts that stay true regardless of the moment.

estar: the photo you just took

Location, health, mood, and any condition that's plausible to describe differently tomorrow.

When Both Are Grammatically Fine, But Mean Different Things

A short list of adjectives work with both verbs and shift meaning depending on which one you choose. These are worth memorizing as pairs, because guessing wrong changes what you're actually saying, not just how formal you sound.

Adjectives that flip meaning with ser vs. estar

Adjective	With ser	With estar
aburrido	boring (a trait)	bored (a mood)
listo	clever, smart (a trait)	ready (a state)
rico	wealthy / a naturally good dish (a trait)	tastes good right now (a reaction)
verde	green in color (a trait)	unripe (a temporary stage)
malo	bad, evil (a trait)	sick, in poor condition (a state)
guapo	good-looking (a general trait)	looking good today (right now, in that outfit)

Don't overthink permanence

'Permanent vs. temporary' is a shortcut, not literal. Someone can be sick (estar) for years, still estar, because health is framed as changeable, not short. It's about the kind of fact, not how long it lasts.

A trick for professions and locations

Job or place with no adjective: ser for the job (Es médica), estar for the place (Está en Bogotá). If you can answer "where?", it's estar.

Two categories almost never get mixed up once you know them cold: profession always takes ser (es doctora), and physical location always takes estar (está en el hospital), even for a building that never moves. Nail these two first, they cover a huge share of real conversation.

DOCTOR and PLACE, as a shortcut

Some learners use the acronym DOCTOR for ser: Description, Occupation, Characteristic, Time, Origin, Relationship. For estar, just remember PLACE: Position/location, condition. It's not exhaustive, but it covers the large majority of real sentences you'll build.

Spain

Same ser/estar logic everywhere; Spaniards use 'estar como una cabra' (to be a bit crazy, literally 'like a goat') as a playful estar idiom.

Mexico

Same logic; 'estar crudo' (to be hungover, literally 'to be raw') is a common estar idiom worth recognizing.

Colombia

Same logic; 'estar prendido' (to be in high spirits, ready to go) is a lively estar expression you'll hear socially.

Spain

The ser/estar distinction itself is universal grammar, not a regional feature; Spain layers in its own idioms on top of both verbs.

Mexico

Same universal distinction; Mexican Spanish has a rich set of estar-based idioms for mood and physical state.

Colombia

Same universal distinction; expect warm, expressive estar phrases describing mood and energy level in everyday conversation.

The full story and practice exercises for this section are in the app.