Ask a Question

(Create a thread)
Go Back   Spanish language learning forums > Spanish & English Languages > Vocabulary


Directions - Use of Ser and Estar

 

Ask about definitions or translations for Spanish or English words.


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old November 03, 2015, 03:47 AM
Desmond's Avatar
Desmond Desmond is offline
Ruby
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 72
Desmond is on a distinguished road
Directions - Use of Ser and Estar

Giving direction

Estación de RENFe, Teatro, Aeropuerto, Catedral all use the Verb Estar

Oficina de turismo, Ayuntamiento use the Verb Ser

Is there a rule that helps sort these out please.
Reply With Quote
   
Get rid of these ads by registering for a free Tomísimo account.
  #2  
Old November 03, 2015, 05:33 AM
Rusty's Avatar
Rusty Rusty is offline
Señor Speedy
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 11,370
Native Language: American English
Rusty has a spectacular aura aboutRusty has a spectacular aura about
Look in the Grammar forum. The second sticky thread will give you the information you seek.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old November 03, 2015, 06:36 AM
Desmond's Avatar
Desmond Desmond is offline
Ruby
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 72
Desmond is on a distinguished road
This doesn’t work as in ...
Giving direction

Estar is used for: Location/position of people/thingsEven if it's something permanent
Ese es el ayuntamiento. [Ser]
Allí está la catedral. [Esta]

Bot are buildings and are perminant fixtures. The scentance is about location.

Also
Estación de RENFe, Teatro, Aeropuerto, Catedral all use the Verb Estar
Oficina de turismo, Ayuntamiento use the Verb Ser

Esta
Allí está la estación de RENFE.
El teatro está allí.
El aeropuerto está por allí.
Allí está la catedral.

Ser
Esa es la oficina de turismo.
Ese es el ayuntamiento.

Last edited by AngelicaDeAlquezar; November 03, 2015 at 11:51 AM. Reason: Merged back-to-back posts
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old November 03, 2015, 11:00 AM
poli's Avatar
poli poli is offline
rule 1: gravity
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: In and around New York
Posts: 7,858
Native Language: English
poli will become famous soon enoughpoli will become famous soon enough
Yes, that is right.
In these cases ser refers to what the building is and estar refers to its location.
__________________
Me ayuda si corrige mis errores. Gracias.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old November 03, 2015, 12:08 PM
AngelicaDeAlquezar's Avatar
AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
Obsidiana
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mexico City
Posts: 9,107
Native Language: Mexican Spanish
AngelicaDeAlquezar is on a distinguished road
You are confusing the location of a building for its description.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Desmond View Post
This doesn’t work as in ...
Giving direction

Estar is used for: Location/position of people/thingsEven if it's something permanent
Ese es el ayuntamiento. [Ser] (Description)
Allí está la catedral. [Estar] (Location)

Bot are buildings and are perminant fixtures. The scentance is about location.

Also
Estación de RENFe, Teatro, Aeropuerto, Catedral all use the Verb Estar
Oficina de turismo, Ayuntamiento use the Verb Ser

Estar (Location)
Allí está la estación de RENFE.
El teatro está allí.
El aeropuerto está por allí.
Allí está la catedral.

Ser (Description)
Esa es la oficina de turismo.
Ese es el ayuntamiento.
In English, the location is given by a sentence like "the airport is there" and the description is expressed by a sentence like "that is the airport". Both kind of sentences have different meanings and therefore, different constructions. It's the same in Spanish: "estar" is for locations and "ser" is for descriptions.

The use of the verbs "ser" and "estar" is not defined by the kind of building.

You can perfectly say:
- Ésta es la estación de RENFE.
- Ése es el teatro.
- Éste es el aeropuerto.
- Ésa es la catedral.
All these sentences are describing what the buildings are.

And also you can say:
- Ahí está la oficina de turismo.
- El ayuntamiento está aquí.
And these sentences are saying where the buildings are.
__________________
Ain't it wonderful to be alive when the Rock'n'Roll plays...
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old November 04, 2015, 02:43 AM
Desmond's Avatar
Desmond Desmond is offline
Ruby
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 72
Desmond is on a distinguished road
Direction is my point.

I am learning Spanish using the famous Linquaphone.12 CDs and 5 Books. Book 2 Lesson 5 titled Asking the way So this lesson is purely for giving directions. There 8 in all including

El teatro está allí. AND El aeropuerto está por allí.

So it is not (as I see it ) Describing something.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old November 04, 2015, 01:28 PM
AngelicaDeAlquezar's Avatar
AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
Obsidiana
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mexico City
Posts: 9,107
Native Language: Mexican Spanish
AngelicaDeAlquezar is on a distinguished road
When you say what a building is in the form of sentences saying "this is the theatre", "that is the hotel", you are making a description. The sense of direction is given by the gesture of pointing at a place either on a map or out in the street to make clear what you mean by "this" or "that".

Please take a look again at the explanation and the examples; mind the use of "ahí"/"aquí"/"allá" with the verb "estar" and the use of "ése"/"esa"/"éste"/"ésta" with the verb "ser". The sentences with the demonstrative adverbs show where a place is, and the sentences with demonstrative pronouns describe what the place is.
__________________
Ain't it wonderful to be alive when the Rock'n'Roll plays...
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old November 09, 2015, 02:32 AM
Desmond's Avatar
Desmond Desmond is offline
Ruby
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 72
Desmond is on a distinguished road
Well that sort of makes sence
oth
That is the tourist office. = Esa es la oficina de turismo.
That is the town hall. = Ese es el ayuntamiento.
Can be seen as a descriptive way of giving a direction

but...
There is a bank in that street. = Hay un banco en esa calle.
This is clearly a direction not a description. The tourist cant see through a brick wall to the next street.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old November 09, 2015, 06:29 AM
aleCcowaN's Avatar
aleCcowaN aleCcowaN is offline
Diamond
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Sierra de la Ventana, Argentina
Posts: 3,227
Native Language: Castellano
aleCcowaN is on a distinguished road
Hay (there is, there are) only tells something exists. You can be as precise as you want:

Hay una solución para tu problema.
Hay un banco en la ciudad
Hay un banco en algún lugar.
Hay un banco a la vuelta de la esquina.
__________________
Sorry, no English spell-checker
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old November 09, 2015, 01:43 PM
AngelicaDeAlquezar's Avatar
AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
Obsidiana
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mexico City
Posts: 9,107
Native Language: Mexican Spanish
AngelicaDeAlquezar is on a distinguished road
@Desmond: Direction is the sense of orientation a person gets from being given instructions and references to arrive at a place. What many of these sentences do is just give you references of what you will find when you arrive at your destination or while walking along the path you have been suggested to follow.

Let's focus on the different structures that have been introduced, which mean different things even if all of them are used to let a person know their way to a place. So far, you have talked about three different structures that are expressed with three different verbs in Spanish: "ser", "estar" and "haber" (in its impersonal form). All three have also different and distinguishable forms in English:

In previous examples I said that sentences with "ser" need a demonstrative pronoun, while sentences with "estar" need a demonstrative adverb. Now a distinction must be made with "hay", which in English translates into the structure "there is / there are", and it is used to say what exists in a place.

See how different these two sentences are in English:
- The bank is there.
- There is a bank there.

The first sentence must use the verb "estar" and it expresses location: it says where the bank is: "El banco está ahí".
The second sentence is expressed with "haber" in its impersonal form "hay", and it expresses what exists in that place: "Ahí hay un banco".
If the original sentence in English would have been "That is the bank", then you would have used the verb "ser" to describe what the building you're pointing at is: "Ése es el banco."

Ser -> that/this + to be + place
- Ésta es la oficina de turismo.
- Éste es el aeropuerto.
- Ése es el teatro.
- Ésa es la catedral.

Estar -> here/there + to be + place
- Ahí está la oficina de turismo.
- Ahí está el aeropuerto.
- Aquí está el teatro.
- Aquí está la catedral.

Haber (impersonal conjugation = "hay") -> there is + place + there/here
- Ahí hay una oficina de turismo.
- Ahí hay un aeropuerto.
- Aquí hay un teatro.
- Aquí hay una catedral.

Let me advise you that you focus on the regularities of the structures more than the translation of a piece of the sentences. Otherwise nothing will ever make sense.
__________________
Ain't it wonderful to be alive when the Rock'n'Roll plays...
Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
estar, ser, ser vs estar

 

Link to this thread
URL: 
HTML Link: 
BB Code: 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Site Rules

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Ser Estar jellybabe Grammar 2 November 07, 2013 08:44 PM
Help with ser or estar Ladydagh Practice & Homework 3 October 23, 2011 10:07 AM
Ser or Estar er610 Grammar 7 October 10, 2011 12:22 PM
Ser and estar again poli Grammar 3 January 25, 2011 03:06 PM
Estar/ser cmon Practice & Homework 4 February 28, 2009 12:58 PM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 10:57 PM.

Forum powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

X