Estar in the Present: Feelings and Location
Estar helps locate someone and describe how they feel right now. Practise its core present forms through questions and answers grounded in visible situations.
Learning objective
Use the essential present forms of estar for feelings and location.
Estar is a verb commonly translated as to be. Use it in this first guide for a current feeling or condition and for location. Estoy bien means I am well, and Estoy en casa means I am at home. En can mean in, on, or at according to context.
The essential present forms are estoy with yo, estás with tú, and está with usted, él, or ella. Estamos goes with nosotros or nosotras, and están with ustedes, ellos, or ellas. The written accents in estás, está, and están are part of the spelling and mark stress.
Feeling words may change to match the person. Estoy cansado means I am tired for a speaker using the masculine form, while Estoy cansada uses the feminine form. Other people may choose language appropriate to them. Bien, meaning well, does not change for the speaker's gender.
Location also uses estar for people and objects in this foundation: El libro está en la mesa means The book is on the table. A place can be stable for years and still use estar for location, so avoid the misleading shortcut that estar always means temporary.
Examples
Estoy bien.
I am well.
Estoy reports the speaker's current wellbeing.
¿Dónde estás?
Where are you?
Estás addresses one person informally.
El teléfono está aquí.
The telephone is here.
Está locates one known object.
Estamos en casa.
We are at home.
Estamos matches nosotros or nosotras.
Common mistake
- Instead of
- Soy en casa.
- Try
- Estoy en casa.
A person's current location uses estar in this foundation, so the speaker selects estoy. The error is not repaired by deciding that home is temporary or permanent; location itself is the useful reason. Memorise estoy en plus a place as a practical frame.
Practice
Try it yourself
Complete with estoy, estás, está, estamos, or están: Yo ___ bien; Tú ___ aquí; La mesa ___ en la casa; Nosotros ___ en Brisbane; Ellas ___ cansadas.