The verb estar (to be, to be) is one of the most important irregular verbs in the Spanish language, as it is used to express actions in various situations. Therefore, knowledge of the conjugation estar in the present, past and future tenses, as well as the ability to correctly use this verb is essential for understanding many Spanish expressions.
The difference between the use of the verbs estar and ser
The verb ser (to be, to be) and the verb estar (to be, to be) have rather close meanings, however, unlike the verb ser, which describes actions that are permanent, estar is used to express temporary actions that are taking place at the current time. For example: Marisol es mujer - Marisol is a woman (in this case, es is the conjugation of the verb present in the third person singular, when translated into Russian, it can be omitted), that is, Marisol is a woman and always will be. And another example: Marisol está en su casa - Marisol is at home, that is, she is now there, and in an hour she can leave the house to the store.
This understanding of the differences in the use of ser and estar helps in analyzing more complex situations. For example, Marisol es pálida and Marisol está pálida, in the first case it is said that Marisol has a pale skin color, and in the second case that she turned pale. Another example: Marisol es mala and Marisol está mal. The first sentence is translated as follows: Marisol is bad (evil and harmful), the second sentence is translated as Marisol got sick.
Conjugation estar for tenses
Being an irregular verb, estar conjugates according to its own rules, different from those according to which verbs ending in -ar conjugate. For simple tenses of the present, past and future in the indicative mood, the conjugation of the verb estar has the form presented in the table.
| Time | I | you | he she | we | you | they are |
| the present | estoy | estás | está | estamos | estáis | están |
| past imperfect | estaba | estabas | estaba | estábamos | estabais | estaban |
| future | estaré | estarás | estará | estaremos | estaréis | estarán |
For example: Estoy en viaje - I travel. Javier estaba en viaje - Javier traveled. Estaremos en viaje en mes próximo - We will be traveling next month.
Subjunctive mood
The subjunctive mood is used when the speaker wants to convey his desires, to express some dubious action that may occur when a certain condition is met. The conjugation of estar in the Spanish subjunctive for the three tenses takes the form shown in the following table.
| Time | I | you | he she | we | you | they are |
| the present | esté | estés | esté | estemos | estéis | estén |
| future | estuviere | estuvieres | estuviere | estuviéremos | estuviereis | estuvieren |
| past imperfect | estuviera | estuvieras | estuviera | estuviéramos | estuvierais | estuvieran |
To show how these conjugations are used in the subjunctive mood, we give the following examples:
- Ojalá estuvieres en su casa mañana - Perhaps you will be at his house tomorrow.
- Quienquiera que esté en el palacio será castigado con dos meses de prisión - Everyone who ends up in this castle will be punished with two months in prison.
- Si yo estuviera en su lugar ayudaría a esta anciana - If I were in his place, I would help this old woman.
Imperative mood
This mood is used to transfer an order or request to another person. The conjugation estar in this inclination is as follows:
- For the second person singular (you) in a positive form is está, and in a negative - no estés.
- For the third person, the singular (you) in positive form is estad, in negative it is no estéis.
Examples of using estar conjugation in Spanish for the imperative:
- ¡Está felizmente enamorado! - Be happy in love!
- ¡No estés tan triste, por favor! “Don't be so sad, please!”
- ¡Estad quietos, chicos! - Calm down, boys!
- ¡No estéis andando lejos de casa! - Do not go far from home!
Persistent expressions with estar
Since the verb estar is one of the main and often used in Spanish, there are many stable expressions with it that are recommended to be remembered in order to better understand spoken language. The following are the most common of these expressions:
- ¿Cómo estás? “How are you, how are you?”
- Estamos de mudanza - We are changing our place of residence, moving.
- Estamos en otoño - We have autumn.
- Estoy que me caigo - I’m just falling down from fatigue.
- No estoy para bromas - I'm out of sorts to joke.
- Ella está que estalla de satisfacción - She will now explode from complacency.
- Ya está - they say so when they want to convey information that the job is done.
- ¿Estamos? - All clear?
- Estar de más - To be superfluous.