The verb is rightfully considered the most important part of the speech of any language. In Spanish, as in Russian, all verbs conjugate in faces. Also, one should not forget about tenses and moods. All this makes learning Spanish a little difficult for beginners. In this article, we give examples of conjugation of ser in Spanish, focusing on the indicative mood.
Ser and its difference from estar
Before considering conjugation in the Spanish verb ser, we will understand when it is used and how it is translated into Russian. Ser means to be. For example, ser hombre - to be human, ser alto - to be high. In other words, ser expresses a constant and unchanging characteristic of an object or thing.
In Russian, this verb is omitted in many sentences. For example, soy maestro - "I (am) a teacher", eres alumno - "you (are) a student."
Beginners to learn the Castilian dialect are often confused by the verbs ser and estar. The latter is translated as "to be, to be." The most important difference between estar and ser is that it shows the current state of the object, that is, one that is stored at the moment and may change after some time. For example, estoy enfermo - “I am ill”, estás triste - “you are sad”, that is, after a while I can recover, and you will have more fun. Note that you can also say eres triste, then this phrase will mean that you are always sad, in life, because of your character and temperament.
We will give examples of conjugation of the verb ser in Spanish for simple present, past and future tenses in the indicative mood. In this mood, ordinary actions, thoughts, events are expressed in the language.
Real simple time
Spanish conjugation for this time is most often used in practice. The following is a list of all forms of the verb for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd persons singular and plural:
I am yo soy;
you are tú eres;
he, she - él, ella es;
we are nosotros somos;
you are vosotros sois;
they are ellos, ellas son.
The verb ser is incorrect, therefore, these and the forms given below in the article for all persons and numbers must be remembered. Here are some more examples:
- soy ingeniero y eres obrero - "I am an engineer, and you are a worker";
- es muy grande, pero nosotros somos pequeños - "he is very large, and we are small";
- ser o no ser, ésa es la cuestión - “to be or not to be, that is the question” (famous phrase from Shakespeare's work).
Note that the verb under study does not conjugate, although the pronouns themselves change, for example, nosotros somos (masculine) and nosotras somos (feminine).
Perfect and imperfect past tenses
These times reflect events that have already occurred before. Perfect answers the question "What did you do?" and describes any action that began and ended in the past, while it lasted one moment. Imperfect time describes events that also ended in the past, but at the same time they lasted for a considerable time period. Imperfect answers the question "What did you do?".
Spanish conjugation for perfect time is as follows:
I am yo fui;
you are tú fuiste;
he, she - él, ella fue;
we are nosotros fuimos;
you are vosotros fuisteis;
they are ellos, ellas fueron.
For the imperfect past simple time, we have the following conjugation table:
I am yo era;
you are tú eras;
he, she - él, ella era;
we are nosotros éramos;
you are vosotros erais;
they are ellos, ellas eran.
Note that for perfect conjugation times for the first and third persons the singular are different (fui and fue), then for the imperfect they are the same (era).
The following sentences in Spanish are examples of the use of these conjugations:
- ella fue al museo y tú fuiste al cine - "she went to the museum and you went to the movies";
- eras muy penoso y aburrido ayer - "yesterday you were very painful and boring."
Future times
Below are conjugations of the verb ser for two future tenses - simple and conditional. A simple future reflects an action that will happen or will happen, for example: "I will fly to Thailand to rest" or "he will build his own house." The conditional future also reflects the action that will occur, but at the same time it expresses some condition. For example: “I would like to fly to Thailand if I get paid a double bonus for my work,” “he would build a house for himself, but in the next two years he will not have the opportunity to do so.”
The conjugations of the verb ser for the future simple have the following form:
I am yo seré;
you are tú serás;
he, she - él, ella será;
we are nosotros seremos;
you are vosotros seréis;
they are ellos, ellas serán.
Please note that verbs should be pronounced taking into account the emphasis placed. Otherwise, the verb can change its meaning and begin to express the subjunctive rather than the indicative mood.
For the future conditional, we can give the following conjugation table:
I am yo sería;
you are tú serías;
he, she - él, ella sería;
we are nosotros seríamos;
you are vosotros seríais;
they are ellos, ellas serían.
Here, as in the case of the past imperfect, we see the difference in the forms of conjugations of ser in Spanish for the singular of the first and third parties.
As an example of the use of these forms of conjugation, we give the following sentences:
- cuando creceré, seré gran hombre - "when I grow up, I will be a big man";
- será mejor, si sabrás algo del asunto - "it will be better if you learn something about this case";
- sería perfecto si él me telefoneará - “it would be great if he called me”;
- seríamos soldados si nos llamaban a filas - "we would be soldiers if we would be drafted into the armed forces."
We hope that our short excursion will help to understand the intricacies of the Spanish language.