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Ser vs estar: do you know the exceptions?

Everyone learns "ser is permanent, estar is temporary". That rule gets you through about six of these eight questions. See which two catch you.

Eight questions, an explanation for every one, no signup.

  1. Question 1 of 8
    Mi hermana ___ médica.
  2. Question 2 of 8
    La sopa ___ fría.
  3. Question 3 of 8
    Hoy ___ martes.
  4. Question 4 of 8
    El concierto ___ en el teatro.
  5. Question 5 of 8
    Mi abuelo ___ muerto.
  6. Question 6 of 8
    Ana ___ muy guapa hoy.
  7. Question 7 of 8
    ___ las tres de la tarde.
  8. Question 8 of 8
    La puerta ___ abierta.

0 of 8 answered.

The answers, and why

No scrolling past a paywall and no email: here is every question with its answer and the reason behind it.

  1. Mi hermana ___ médica.

    Answer: es (of es / está)

    Profession is identity — what she IS — so it takes ser.

  2. La sopa ___ fría.

    Answer: está (of es / está)

    The soup has gone cold: a condition, and the result of a change. "La sopa es fría" would mean it is a cold soup by nature, like gazpacho.

  3. Hoy ___ martes.

    Answer: es (of es / está)

    Days, dates and times always take ser, however temporary a Tuesday feels.

  4. El concierto ___ en el teatro.

    Answer: es (of es / está)

    The trap. Events take ser even when you are naming a place, because the concert happens there rather than sits there. The theatre itself would be "está en el centro".

  5. Mi abuelo ___ muerto.

    Answer: está (of es / está)

    The exception that kills the permanent-versus-temporary rule. Death is a change of state, and states take estar.

  6. Ana ___ muy guapa hoy.

    Answer: está (of es / está)

    With "hoy" you are describing how she looks right now. "Ana es guapa" is a statement about Ana in general — and swapping them changes the compliment.

  7. ___ las tres de la tarde.

    Answer: Son (of Son / Están)

    Telling the time uses ser, in the plural to agree with "las tres".

  8. La puerta ___ abierta.

    Answer: está (of es / está)

    Someone opened it, so this is the resulting state: estar. With ser it would describe the door as an open one by design.

Ser vs estar: the rule that actually holds

The permanent-versus-temporary rule is a useful lie. It explains why soup is "está fría" but not why a dead person is "está muerto" — nothing is more permanent than that. The rule that survives contact with real Spanish is this: ser tells you WHAT something is (identity, origin, material, profession, the time and date, and where an event takes place), while estar tells you HOW or WHERE it is right now (location, condition, mood, and the result of a change). Death is a change of state, so it takes estar. A concert happens rather than sits somewhere, so it takes ser even though you are naming a place.

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