Esta

Question

Does "Esta" not indicate location? In the lesson and examples, it seems that "ser" is used to denote location?  Am I incorrect in this?

Inma Sánchez · Answer

Hola Margaret,
Yes, you are right, "estar" indicates location, as in "María está en la playa" (María is at the beach) or "Birmingham está en el centro de Inglaterra" (Birmingham is in the centre of England) but to say "where events take place" we use "ser". It is a more specific use. It would sound a bit odd to say "¿Dónde está la fiesta? as we consider "una fiesta" to be an event, so we would say "¿Dónde es la fiesta?.
I hope this helps.
Inma

Margaret Roehmer · Answer

Thank you, Inma.  Your r eply does help me to understand the difference in usage of "Ser" and "Esta."  I appreciate your help.
Margaret

George Christopher · Answer

The way I remember this (as a non-native speaker) works like this.

When you plan a large event, like the world cup final or the super bowl, the event gets a time and a place. These are unlikely to change and become a permanent characteristic of the event, so ser is appropriate. Smaller events "inherit" this behavior because they are events.

When you go to a location, you may move, so it is a temporary description and gets estar. Locations even more permanent locations (such as the location of a building) "inherit" from this behavior.

Barbara Ransehousen · Answer

why is it : My father is in the hospital. = es?

Stephanie Slawek · Answer

The best way I've learned distinguish ser and estar is asking the question, "Is this what [the subject] is like?" Ser is used for inherent qualities, estar for qualities that are not intrinsic. For location, where something is isn't intrinsic to what it is, that's just where it happens to be. For events, the time and place are characteristics of it, so you use ser.

That's how I think of it.