Marriage, Divorce and Estar vs. Ser

[tessgold]

Hi, I'm hoping somebody can clear this up for me. I'm learning Spanish using the Pimsleur audiobooks, which are frankly much better than I thought they would be. For the most part they are quite clear, but one of their strengths is also one of their weaknesses. They don't give a lot of explanation, which I usually like, but can occasionally lead to confusion.

Case in point - a few lessons back they were using ESTAR when saying that someone was married or divorced. "Mi hermano está casado." Now they are talking about a woman's brothers and using SER - "Your brothers are married?" = ¿Sus hermanos, son casados?"

I know I must be misunderstanding something, but I'm not sure what.

Thanks,
Tess

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Take a look here (http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=260), specially to post #20 and the conversation afterward. I think that may help. :)

[tessgold]

Gracias, Angelica. I'd actually looked at that thread before I started this one, but I didn't realize that there were more pages beyond the first. I'll be more careful next time.

I'm still annoyed that the audiobook would switch from ESTAR to SER without giving an explanation, but at least now I know that both are sometimes correct.