Ser vs Estar

Hello everyone, today I'll explain the difference between "ser" and "estar", which is actually pretty simple but can be very confusing as well, especially for german and english speakers, since the only way to trasnlate this two verbs is "sein" or "to be" respectively, it might be the same for other germanic languages but I honestly don't know.

A little something just to refresh your mind:

  I am             = Yo soy/estoy
  You are          = Tu eres/estás
  He/She/It        = Él/Ella/Eso es/está
  We are           = Nosotros somos/estamos  
  They are         = Ellos son/están
  You are (plural) = Ustedes son/están

Ser - What's part of you.

Let's begin with "ser". The idea of this verb expresses what you are, with the idea of feeling identified with what you are, or what you feel. It's quite a profound word actually. Here some examples:

 - Hoy al fin puedo decir que soy feliz.
 - Today I can finally say that I'm happy.

Soy is the conjugated version in first person of ser, so I am = Yo soy. And as I said before the examples, this "to be happy" is understanded as to being a happy person, like being happy to the core... You just not "feel" happy, you ARE happy.

 - Hace veinticinco años que soy oficial de policía.
 - It's been 25 years that I'm police officer.

 - ¿Estás orgulloso de ser Venezolano?
 - Are you proud of being Venezuelan?

 - "¿Conoces a los amigos de tu enamorada?"
   "Si, son todos unos estpupidos."
 - "Do you know your girlriend's friends?"
   "Yeah, they're all stupid."

Here you can grasp the idea that "ser" conveys. I don't know if this is the best way of putting it in english words but it's kind of about identity, or something that is part of you, like being a police officer or any other proffesion, being Venezuelan or any nationality. Even in the third example, someone's saying "they're all stupid" in the sense that who speaks means that for his girlfriend's friends, being stupid is part of them.


Estar - Where/how you are.

This has like so many meanings, always depending on the context and which particles go after it, but let's check the most important ones, since I believe that many of the different meanings go around the same idea of existing in a certaing place, or in a certain way. Let's start with some basic examples:

 - "¿Dónde está mi billetera?"
   " (Está) donde la dejaste..."

 - "Where's my wallet?"
 - "(It is) Where you left it..."

So "estar" is THE word for asking or answering about where persons/things are, I hope you can see one of the general ideas of the verb, which is existing in a certain place.

 - "¿Has visto a Pedro? No contesta su celular."
   "Está de paseo con su familia, creo que está sin señal."

 - "Have you seen Pedro? He's not answering his phone.
   "He is on a trip with his family, I believe that he is without signal" (lit.)
   "He's on a family trip, I think he hasn't got phone signal/reception/whateveryoucallit".

Ok tricky example, there are two "está" in this sentence and they do not express the same idea... The first one is related with the idea of being in a certain place/situation, and the particle "de" coming after "estar" in any of its conjugated forms creates this sort of fixed expression "estar de (something)" Examples:

 - Estar de paseo.
 - To be on a trip.

 - Estar de vacaciones.
 - To be on vacation.

 - Estar de pie.
 - To be standing up on your feet. (if that makes sense...)

And the second "está" tells you the situation in which Pedro is: without signal. Not as complicated to understand as the first one I'd say. Clearly the sentence is answering the question "How is Pedro?", and we know that THE word to answer this question is "estar"... EXCEPT FOR:

Context.

Since there's not such a distinction in english with the verb "to be", you rely on context in order to get the idea. So imagine you're talking about how good you get along with your mother-in-law. If someone asks "How is she?" in engish, you can be 99.69% sure that you are being asked about her personal traits, why do you think she's nice, how good person is she, etc... This would be a "¿Cómo es ella?  Whereas if you start telling someone that your dad is sick and he's got to go to the hospital, a "How is he?" would be a "¿Cómo está el?. Remember that "estar" says something about a current place or situation.

There are many more situations and examples I could write about but I think you can get the general idea from this. If you got any questions please let me know, I'll be glad of answering them all. See ya!