Ser vs Estar confusion This article talks about using El Presente to express general facts, simple enough...
... however my qualm is with the use of Ser vs Estar. My understanding was that ser would be used to generally describe things which don’t change over a prolonged period of time, eg. Relationships, jobs, generally accepted facts etc.
Therefore I was terribly confused when the correct response to one of your questions was:
“Francia está en Europa”.
Whereas the example on this page states:
“Roma es la capital de Italia.”
Both of these seem like general facts with a geographical theme... where do I draw the line?
Apologies for the essay! Haha
I love this article! I spent over two years in the ROP and I loved the people! I think an article on how Spanish affected the major indigenous language Tagalog would be fascinating. For example the Tagalog greeting "Komo staka" is very close to Como esta and the term for very good "may sarap" is from muey sabroso. (My spelling of Tagalog words are probably wrong.) I also remember that the word for stop in Tagalog is "parar". I know that during my time of the ROP I never heard anyone speak in Spanish. I only wish that I had known some Spanish back then (circa 1977-1980). It certainly would have helped me to learn more Tagalog phrases.
I got this correct in the quiz b/c I followed the hint but I don't understand the use of Imperfecto over Indefinido here if there is a specific time period in the past identified. Why trabajaba rather than trabajo? (I know the hint says "used to" but the question still stands.) Thank you!
En el año 2010, usted ________ para una escuela primaria.In 2010, you used to work for a primary school.HINT: Conjugate "trabajar" in El Pretérito Imperfecto.
For the sentence below I would say "Whoever"
"Who/Which person studies a lot gets good results."Or "He/she who ..."
I thought that "Méjico" was regarded as offensive pronunciation of "México." Isn't that true, or can I use either one of them without being regarded as a vulgar person?
Hola,
It seems like all previously accented words, such as lámpara, pájaro drop the accent, so that pronunciation is on the penultimate syllable - pajarito, lamparita?
Is that the case and are there any exceptions?
Gracias,
This article talks about using El Presente to express general facts, simple enough...
... however my qualm is with the use of Ser vs Estar. My understanding was that ser would be used to generally describe things which don’t change over a prolonged period of time, eg. Relationships, jobs, generally accepted facts etc.
Therefore I was terribly confused when the correct response to one of your questions was:
“Francia está en Europa”.
Whereas the example on this page states:
“Roma es la capital de Italia.”
Both of these seem like general facts with a geographical theme... where do I draw the line?
Apologies for the essay! Haha
Find your Spanish level for FREE
Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard
Find your Spanish level