Norton's Spanish Basics: Audio Podcast   /     Verbs: Ser and Estar

Description

Show notes:“To be or not to be: that is the question.”In this podcast we will be discussing the two different verbs for“to be”. In Spanish we say either ser or estar when we want to convey the meaning“to be”. Every year, I ask my Spanish two students if they can tell me the difference between ser and estar. They usually regurgitate the easy-to-teach responses that they heard from they’re first year teachers: Ser is permanent and Estar is temporary. Others will fumble over an acronym or list of occasions that a teacher made them memorize. Neither of those techniques worked for me when I was learning Spanish– the first seemed to have too many exceptions and the second was entirely too cumbersome to use if I were in a conversation with somebody and having to stop mid-sentence in order to drill through a memorized list of situations just to be able to use the correct verb in the sentence that was stopped. Instead, I will give you a less concrete example of when the light bulb went on for me to understand the difference…...and it continues through the episode. Here are the acronyms discussed in this podcast:Estar: P.L.A.C.E. - Position Location Action Condition EmotionSer: T.O.P. - Time/Trait Occupation/Origin Possession/ProfessionExamples: USES OF SER - To express characteristic, a description, or an identification.(a) CharacteristicsLa sopa es buena The soup is goodEl profesor es estricto the teacher is strict(b) DescriptionMartha es alta Martha a tallEl señor Salas es rico Mr. Salas is rich(c) Identification¿Quién es? Who is it?Soy yo. It’s me-To express occupation or nationality(a) occupationMi primo es abogado. My cousin is a lawyer.Ellos son contadores. They are accountants.(b) NationalityEllos son espñoles. They are Spanish.Ella es peruana. She is Peruvian.- To express time and dates(a) TimeSon las dos. It’s two o’clock.Es medianoche. It’s midnight.(b) DatesEs el tres de mayo. It’s May 3.Es el primero de abril. It’s April 1.- With de, to express origin, possession, or material.(a) OriginElla es de México. She is from Mexico.Las naranjas son de Valencia. The oranges are from Valencia.(b) PossessionEse reloj es de Carmen. It’s Carmen’s watch.La casa es de mi tío. It’s my uncle’s house.(c) MaterialLa blusa es de seda. The blouse is silk.Las joyas son de oro. The jewelry is gold. USES OF ESTAR - To express location or position. Madrid está es España. Madrid is in Spanish.Mi tío está en Mexico. My uncle is in Mexico.El libro está es la mesa. The book is on the table.¿Dónde están los niños? Where are the children?- To express a condition or state (emotions, health)La sopa está caliente. The soup is hot.María está sentada. Maria is seated.El señor Salas está triste. Mr. Salas is sad.¿Cómo está usted? Estoy muy bien. How are you? I am very well.La ventana está abierta. The window is open.- To express action in progressEllos están estudiando. They are studying.Estoy escribiendo. I am writing.This podcast uses the following audio from freesound.org:Reggaeton.wav beat from freesound.org Artist: djpuppy's breaksfile: duppyReaagetomSoca01-114.wavTrumpet loops from freesound.org Artist: Trumpet Loops 'n' Hitsfile: TrumpetLoop02.aif