hores

See Copula for information on other languages, including English, particularly on syntax; see Indo-European copula for further information on the historical paradigms.

Notes on the use of Latin words:

• We have followed the usual practice of quoting Latin verbs in the first person singular of the present indicative. In other words, SVM is literally "I am", rather than "to be". The infinitives are ESSE and STARE.
• Although it is normal to use lower case when writing Latin in modern times, this article, dealing as it does with etymology, presents Latin in the capital letters used by the Romans. Nor have we used modern innovations such as U, J, ligatures, macrons or breves.

Evolution of meaning

In English, it is possible to say "there stands..." instead of "there is..." in certain contexts. In Latin too, it became common to eschew SVM in favour of STO and say where things "stood" instead of where they "were". With time, it became common to use this verb to express other states.

Now, Castilian/Spanish, Galician/Portuguese, Catalan, and (to a lesser extent) Italian commonly use two copulae, one from each of the Latin verbs. The others use just one main copula, from SVM.

There is also a notable tendency for a derivative of the supine of STO (STATVS, STATA, STATVM) to replace the past participle of verbs deriving from SVM (which in Latin had no supine). Examples:

• Italian has stato as the past participle of not only stare but also essere, instead of the expected essuto (which, along with suto we encounter only in mediaeval texts).
• Standard Catalan has estat as the past participle of not only estar but also ésser. However, many people use forms such as sigut or sét, which are considered also standard for colloquial speech.
• French has été as the p.p. of être, instead of the expected étu. Été developed as follows: STATVM → stato → estat → esté → été.

In Castilian/Spanish

See also Spanish language, Spanish grammar and Spanish verbs.

The Spanish copulae developed as follows:

• ESSE → *éssere → *ésser → *eser → ser
• STARE → *estare → estar

According to the dictionary of the Real Academia, the verb ser derives from the Latin verb "to sit":

• SEDERE → *seder → seer → ser

However, although it is possible that SEDERE may have been absorbed and merged into ser, it is clear that the meaning and the majority of the forms of the modern Spanish verb come from ESSE.

If we look back to the early part of the second millennium, in texts such as the Cantar de Mio Cid, ser was still used mostly as in Latin, and there was little place for estar; we can see sentences like Es pagado, e davos su amor, "He is satisfied, and he gives you his favour", where modern Spanish would have something like Queda contento, or Está satisfecho, y le da a usted su favor.

As the centuries went by, estar spread in use. Today, ser is used to express the fundamental nature, identity or characteristics of something — what it really is, whilst estar expresses the state something happens to be in. Indeed, ser is etymologically related to "essence" and "is", and estar with "state", "status", "standing", "stance" and "stay".

The verb quedar (which also has the specific meanings of "to remain", "to be as a result" and others) is often used in a similar way to estar. It derives from the Latin QVIETO (QVIETARE in the infinitive), "to rest".

Nuance

• Es sucio = "He's dirty" (i.e. "He's a dirty person" — characteristic)
• Está sucio = "He's dirty" (i.e. "He has some dirt on him" — state)

• Es abierta = "She's open" (i.e. "She's an open sort of person" — characteristic)
• Está abierta = "It's open" (probably referring to a door or window — state)

• Es triste = "He/she/it is sad" (i.e. gloomy — characteristic)
• Está triste = "He/she is sad" (i.e. feeling down — state)

• ¿Cómo eres? = "What are you like?" (i.e. "describe yourself" — characteristics)
• ¿Cómo estás? = "How are you?" (i.e. "how are you doing?" — state)

With adjectives referring to beauty and the like, ser means "to be", and estar means "to look".

• ¡Qué guapa es! = "Wow, she's so beautiful" (characteristic)
• ¡Qué guapa está! = "Wow, she's looking so beautiful / she's done up so nicely" (state)

Note that the differentiation between "nature" and "state" makes sense when talking about the states of life and death: Está vivo (He is alive). Está muerto (He is dead). Note that estar is used for both alive and dead, since they are both states, although being dead is considered a permanent state.

Ser is used when stating the stage of life at which a person is. The old, the young, etc are seen as groups that one can belong to. It is a question of identity:

• Es viejo = "he's old"
• Es un viejo = "he's an old man"
• Cuando era niña = "when she was a girl"

However, age can also be presented not as a matter of identity but a state:

• Está viejo = "he's looking old" / "he's got old"

The use of estar gives a certain special nuance to some verbs. For example, estar guapa, though it has the sense of "to be beautiful", also emphasizes the use of make-up and clothes to create a beautiful look. Ser sucio instead of the more usual estar sucio means to be the sort of person who is likely to be dirty.

The adjective loco ("mad", "crazy", "insane") is always used with estar in Spain, as the implication is that the person "has gone mad" (i.e. a change of state). It is possible to give it a permanent nuance, but only by using it as a noun: es un loco, "he's a madman". Ser loco is used in Latin America, however.

The expression como una cabra (with the implied loco omitted) is used with estar to mean "mad as a hatter", "crazy as a loon". Ser como una cabra would literally mean "to be like a goat".

Ser is used with adjectives of fundamental belief, nationality, sex, intelligence, etc. The use of estar with francés ("French") sounds quite odd to native Spanish speakers, as though it meant "to feel a bit French". Similarly, no estar católico does not mean "to no longer be Catholic", but is a colloquial expression meaning "to feel under the weather". Note how this is a state.

People studying Spanish as a second language often believe that the difference between the two verbs is "permanent" versus "temporary", but in the Spanish mind, the difference is "essential nature" versus "state or condition". The "essential nature" of things does sometimes change, and this is reflected in the language. For example, someone who had been depressed for a prolonged period, and then had a life changing experience like a new career or long-term relationship, might say ahora soy feliz, meaning "I am happy now".

Specific interpretations requiring ser

A special use of ser, which expresses neither a nature nor a state but an action, is the formation of the passive voice:

• Han sido asesinados = "They have been murdered"
• Serás juzgada = "You will be judged"

Note that the Spanish passive voice is rarer than in English, with other turns of phrase being used instead.

Specific interpretations requiring estar

Past participles

Estar is almost always used with adjectives that derive from past participles of verbs since the use of ser would sound like a verb in the passive voice. Such adjectives in any case generally refer to states:

• La frontera está cerrada = "The border is closed"
• Estoy casado = "I'm married" (Soy casado is also possible; note that "I'm single", "I'm widowed", etc all use ser, which shows that the only reason casado usually takes estar is that it is a participle, and not because Spanish speakers consider marriage to be some sort of temporary state!)

A special example of this tendency is what happens with words indicating prohibition and suchlike. If an adjective not deriving from a verb were used, then the meaning would definitely require ser. To say the same thing with a past participle, estar (or quedar) is required, in order to differentiate it from the use of ser with a past participle implying an action expressed in the passive voice:

• Es ilegal fumar en este vuelo = "It is illegal to smoke on this flight" (straightforward case of ser)
• Está prohibido fumar en este vuelo = "It is forbidden to smoke on this flight" (estar necessary to distinguish the sentence from the following one)
• Ha sido prohibido fumar en este vuelo = "It has been forbidden (i.e. made against the rules) to smoke on this flight" (This is an example of the passive voice. This use of ser in the perfect tense is similar to the use of estar in the present tense; the former expressing an event in the past, the latter expressing its current effect.)

This fine nuance is not encountered in other Romance languages, which do not go to such lengths to distinguish between passives and similar-sounding phrases.

Location

Estar is used to refer to physical location. In the Spanish mind, location is a state, and therefore goes with estar, even in those cases (e.g. Madrid está en España "Madrid is in Spain") when one might think that it is something so permanent and fundamental that it could be logical to use ser. With immobile things, quedar is sometimes used instead of estar, especially when there is a reference to a length of time, or a remaining distance, e.g.:

• ¿A cuánto queda la playa? / ¿A qué distancia queda la playa? = "How far away is the beach?"
• Aún queda lejos = "There's still quite some way" / "It's still far"
• El bar queda a cinco minutitos = "The bar's just five minutes away"

However, ser can sometimes occur with words such as aquí, which can mislead learners into thinking that physical location can be expressed with ser. In fact, the verb in this case identifies the place rather than expressing where it is. For example, one might say to a taxi driver the following phrases, to indicate that you have arrived:

• Está aquí = "It's here"
• Es aquí = "It's here"

The difference becomes clear if aquí is changed to esta calle:

• Está en esta calle = "It's in this street"
• Es esta calle = "It's this street"

Es aquí and es esta calle express the idea that "this is the place", a concept quite different from what is expressed by estar.

The only case in which true location is expressed by ser is when an event rather than a physical thing is referred to:

• ¿Dónde es la fiesta? = "Where is the party?"
• ¿Dónde está la sala de fiestas? = "Where is the discothèque?"

Words requiring ser

Ser is always used when the complement is a noun or pronoun, regardless of whether the speaker intended to express a fundamental essence (though in practice they do tend to express this):

• Es una persona sucia = "He's a dirty person"
• Es una persona abierta = "She's an open person"
• Soy la víctima = "I'm the victim"

However, it is not always easy to know what is a noun. For example, pez is a noun meaning "fish", but estar pez is a colloquial expression meaning to be "rubbish" or "useless" at a given activity.

Words requiring estar

Estar must be used when the complement is bien or mal, no matter what meaning is intended.

• Este libro está muy bien = Este libro es muy bueno = "This book is very good" (nature)
• Estoy muy mal = Estoy muy malo = "I'm feeling terrible, ill" (state)

Total change of meaning with specific adjectives

There are many adjectives that change in meaning entirely depending on the verb used, sometimes meaning almost the opposite. Note that in each case the meaning which is more of a "nature" goes with ser and the meaning which is more of a "state" goes with estar.

Happiness

Although "sadness" is expressed fairly straightforwardly with triste, "happiness" is a little trickier. The quality of being joyous, lively and happy is expressed with ser alegre. This can describe people, music, colours, etc. Estar alegre expresses the state of being merry, often in practice actually meaning "drunk", "tipsy".

A person who is fundamentally happy in life is said to ser feliz; indeed la felicidad is that "happiness" that humans strive for. Although in the harsh real world this happiness often turns out to be a transitory state, a person may nevertheless declare soy feliz as a statement of optimism that goes beyond the description of today's mood that is expressed by any phrase with estar. As for such moods, they can be expressed with estar feliz, but this adjective is not really the appropriate one; estar contento is the better way of saying that one is at the present time feeling happy, content or glad.

When not a state but a change of state is referred to, the expression is quedar contento or alegrarse: quedó muy contenta cuando le dije que había ganado = "she was very glad when I told her she had won"; me alegro de que hayáis llegado = "I'm glad you've all come".

In the extract from the Cantar de Mio Cid above, one can see that "to be happy" a thousand years ago was ser pagado.

In Catalan

The Catalan copulae developed as follows:

• ESSE → éssere → ésser → esser → ser
• STARE → *estare → estar

The last three forms of the first verb survive in modern Catalan. Ésser is considered the most standard one, followed by ser and, distantly, esser.

In Catalan, ésser and estar work in a way somewhat reminiscent of an hybrid of that of Italian and that of Portuguese. The rather confusing rules are as follows (there's a vastly clarified summary at the end):

• When referring to inanimate objects, ser is used to tell about either permanent conditions inherent to the object (for example és vermell, 'it is red'), unfinished qualities, or non-permanent conditions when there is no implication that there has been or there will be a change in state (for example, la sopa és calenta, 'the soup is hot.') Generally speaking, ser is used to talk about a quality of an inanimate object in a given moment (without paying attention to other moments) or exactly the opposite: a quality of an inanimate object which is expected to be true in all moments of the existence of said object. Most uses of past participles as adjectives fall into this category when referring to inanimate objects.
• When referring to inanimate objects, estar is used to tell about non-permanent conditions when there is an implication of a finished change of state, an implication of a state in a known point of an evolution, or a temporal condition which is expected to change. In some way, estar introduces a somewhat adverbial sense to adjectives (for example, la sopa està calenta, 'the soup is hot', as in 'it has come to be hot.') Thus, both using ser and estar is correct in many contexts, but there's a difference in nuance.
• When referring to animate objects, ser is only used to tell about permanent conditions (for example és boig, 'he is insane'; és mort, 'he is dead.') Things traditionally thought of as permanent conditions also fall under this category, most notably ser casat/da, 'to be married', and related terms. Ser is also used with the past participle of some inaccussative verbs, such as néixer, which in medieval and dialectal Catalan made their composite tenses with ser.
• When referring to animate objects, estar is only used to tell about non-permanent conditions (for example estàs molt guapa, 'you look good' as in 'better than usual.')
• With fixed prepositional locutions, estar is most often used (for example, està en perill, 'he/she/it is in danger'; està a punt, 'he/she/it is ready'.)
• When referring to location, 'ser' is used when no time context is given (for example, els llibres són als prestatges, 'the books are on the shelves.')
• When referring to location, 'estar' is used when there is a sense of permanence (for example estic a Barcelona, 'I live in Barcelona') or of a concrete time lapse (for example hi vam estar dues hores, 'we were there for two hours.) In this case, pronominal particles might be added to the verb to emphasise the sentence (for example, ens hi vam estar dues hores.)
• Estar is always used with modal adverbs (for example estic bé, 'I'm alright').
• Estar is used to form the present continuous form estar + infinitive, although some linguists think this is not a genuinely Catalan form, although it is found on Medieval literature, for exemple that of Ausiàs March. Another undoubtedly genuine but perhaps too literary form is ser a + infinitive.
• Estat is used as the past participle of not only estar but also èsser/ser by many speakers, and this is considered the most universal form. However, many other speakers use a traditional regular p.p. of èsser/ser: sigut, which is also accepted as standard in Central Catalan, although many linguists and speakers see it as colloquial. Another accepted form is sét, unlike the Valencian form segut, which causes confusion with the past participle of the verb seure, 'to sit'. Google returns ~727,000 results for ha sigut, ~3.740.000 results for ha estat and ~35 results for ha sét.

Although this all is very confusing, it can be summed up in five simple rules:

• Ser is always used to apply adjectives to inanimate objects except if there is a cause or a time lapse given for the condition of the adjective.
• Estar is always used to apply adjectives to animate objects if it's not a permanent state or characteristic of such animate object. However, some things that nowadays can be changed but before couldn't (or weren't expected to) work like permanent characteristics (for example, nationality, beliefs, sex, looks, being married, degree of intelligence and degree of sanity.) Of course, even those can be expressed with estar if the animate object is acting as if they were his characteristics but they aren't, or if the characteristics are more emphasised than usual. For example, és molt socialista, 'she/he's a convinced socialist' vs. estàs molt socialista!, 'you're being very socialist!'; és molt maca, 'she's very beautiful' vs. està molt maca, 'she looks very beautiful', as in 'better than usual'; és mort, 'he's dead' vs. està com mort, 'he's acting as if he was dead.'
• Ser is always used for locations except if there is a time lapse given or if the location actually means that someone works or lives in the indicated place.
• Estar is always used with modal adverbs and equivalents like fixed prepositional locutions.
• Estar is always used to express a point of an evolution or scale (for example, els termòmetres estan a 20 graus, 'thermometres are at 20 degrees'.)

It should be noted that animate objects refers mainly to people, animals, and whatever is thought to be sentient (for example, a child playing with a doll will probably treat is as an animate object.)

In Provençal, the copula is èsser or èstre.

In French

Old French had estre (ESSE → essere → *essre → estre) and ester (STARE → *estare → estar → ester), and distinguished between then in a similar way to other Romance languages. With phonetic evolution, the forms of each verb tended to be confused with one another, with the result that estre finally absorbed ester; around the same time, most words beginning with est- changed to ét- or êt-. The modern form of the verb is être.

The only clear trace of ester (or éter if we bear in mind the loss of the s) in the modern copula is the past participle: instead of the *étu one would expect, we find été — just what we would expect from ester/éter. The same tendency to use past participles derived from STATVM (the supine of STARE) to replace the past participles of the main copula is also seen in Italian and Catalan.

The present participle and all imperfect forms of être are regular and correspond to what one would expect for a verb with the stem êt-; however, they could also be considered as deriving from éter since the forms coincide.

All other forms of être are from SVM rather than STO.

Ester also survives in the infinitive in the set phrases ester en justice and ester en jugement, which translate the Latin term STARE IN IVDICIO meaning "to appear in court", "to stand before the court". Ester en justice has come to mean "to file a lawsuit", i.e. to appear in court as the active party.

The English verb "to stay" comes directly from ester.

In Italian

The Italian copulae did not undergo the same development as in other languages, and conserve the Vulgar Latin forms essere and stare.

Essere is the main copula. Stare refers to state rather than essence, but more narrowly than in Spanish. Essere is used for almost all cases in which English uses "to be". It therefore makes sense to concentrate on the few uses of stare.

• Stare means "to be", "to be feeling", or "to appear" with bene, male, meglio, come?, etc.: Come stai? "How are you?", Sto bene "I'm well."
• Stare is used to form continuous forms of tenses: sto aspettando "I am waiting", Stavo parlando con... "I was speaking with..."
• Stare's past participle stato has replaced that of essere, and so stato is used for "been" in all senses.
• Stare can mean "to stand" (usually stare in piedi) but this is common only in the expression stare per, "to stand for" i.e. in abbreviations.
• Starci (lit. To stay in it) means "to fit"
• Stare can be an alternative to restare "to stay"
• Stare is occasionally "to be located". This is very common in the south of Italy.

Like the Spanish quedar, Italian uses rimanere (to remain) in the sense of "to be as a result" (e.g. È rimasta incinta = "she became pregnant (as a result)").

In Portuguese

The Portuguese copulae developed as in Spanish:

• ESSE → éssere → ésser → *eser → ser
• STARE → *estare → estar

The distinction between the two verbs is very similar to that of Catalan. Compared to Spanish, estar is a little less used. There is perhaps a little more of a concept of permanent versus temporary, rather than essence versus state. The main difference between Spanish and Portuguese is in the interpretation of the concept of state versus essence and in the generalisations one way or another that are made in certain constructions. For example, Portuguese does not require estar with past participles; in this case it follows the general rule regarding state/essence.

• A cadeira é [feita] de madeira = "The chair is made of wood"

The word meaning "made" is in square brackets here, as it possible to omit it. The equivalent Spanish phrase would have to switch to the use of estar if this word were included.

• Eu sou casado = "I'm married"

The same applies in sentences such as the following, which use ser for the passive voice, with no special exceptions for prohibitions and the like:

• É proibido fumar neste vôo = "Smoking is forbidden in this flight".

Portuguese counts location as fundamental, and accordingly uses ser, or the more specific secondary copula ficar:

• Lisboa fica em Portugal = "Lisbon is [located] in Portugual"
• Onde é/fica o apartamento dela? = "Where is her flat/apartment?"

Nuance

• É sujo = "It's dirty" (i.e. "It's a dirty place" — characteristic)
• Está sujo = "It's dirty" (i.e. "(today) The place is dirty" — state)

• É aberta = "She's open" (i.e. "She's an open sort of person", this sentence can have a pejorative meaning — characteristic)
• Está aberta = "It's open" (probably referring to a door or window — state)

• Ele é triste = "He is sad" (i.e. gloomy — characteristic)
• (Ele) está triste = "He is sad" (i.e. feeling down — state)

• Como és? = "What are you like?" (i.e. "describe yourself" — characteristics)
• Como estás? = "How are you?" (i.e. "how are you doing?" — state)

With adjectives referring to beauty and the like, ser means "to be", and estar means "to look".

• Que linda ela é! = "Wow, she's so beautiful" (characteristic)
• Que linda ela está! = "Wow, she's looking so beautiful" (state)

As in Spanish, the differentiation between "nature" and "state" makes sense when talking about the states of life and death: Está vivo (He is alive). Está morto (He is dead).

Unlike Spanish, louco (loco in Spanish) can be used with "ser" or "estar", giving different meanings:

• És louco! = "You're mad!" (characteristic)
• Estás louco! = "You've gone mad!" (state)

Ser is used with adjectives of fundamental belief (Não sou católico, I'm not Catholic), nationality (És português, You are Portuguese), sex (É homem, He's a man), intelligence (Somos espertos, We are smart), etc.

Due to Catholicism being the main religion in most Lusophone countries, so it is very common, not being Catholic is unusual. Then the use of católico (Catholic) with estar has another meaning (figurative):

• Eu não estou muito católico = "I'm not in a good way" (perhaps feeling drunk or ill)
• O tempo hoje não está muito católico = "The weather's not nice today"

With this exception, due to its different meaning, estar can not be used for nationality, sex, or intelligence, but one can say Estou abrasileirado (I'm Brazilian-influenced — state) or Estás americanizado (You are Americanised — state).

In Romanian

A fi, fire is the copula in Romanian. It evolved like this:

• FIERI → fiere → fire → *fir → fi

FIERI was the passive infinitive of "facere", to make, and so meant "to be made". In the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken in modern day Romania, its evolved form fiere replaced essere, maybe due to the similarity between the stem fi- of fiere and fu- of essere.

In Romansh

Esser means "to be", and Star is "to reside".

Conjugation

Here, only simple, one-word forms are given. All languages below also possess numerous compound tenses.

In Latin

SVM

• Non-finite forms:
  • Present infinitive: ESSE
  • Future infinitive: FORE (FVTVRVM ESSE)
  • Future participle: FVTVRVS
  • Perfect infinitive: FVISSE
• Indicative:
  • Present: SVM, ES, EST, SVMVS, ESTIS, SVNT
  • Imperfect: ERAM, ERAS, ERAT, ERAMVS, ERATIS, ERANT
  • Future: ERO, ERIS, ERIT, ERIMVS, ERITIS, ERVNT
  • Perfect: FVI, FVISTI, FVIT, FVIMVS, FVISTIS, FVERVNT
  • Pluperfect: FVERAM, FVERAS, FVERAT, FVERAMVS, FVERATIS, FVERANT
  • Future anterior: FVERO, FVERIS, FVERIT, FVERIMVS, FVERITVS, FVERINT
• Subjunctive:
  • Present: SIM, SIS, SIT, SIMVS, SITIS, SINT
  • Imperfect: ESSEM, ESSES, ESSET, ESSEMVS, ESSETIS, ESSENT
  • Perfect: FVERIM, FVERIS, FVERIT, FVERIMVS, FVERITIS
  • Pluperfect: FVISSEM, FVISSES, FVISSET, FVISSEMVS, FVISSETIS, FVISSENT
• Imperative: ES, ESTE

STO

• Non-finite forms:
  • Present infinitive: STARE
  • Future participle: STATVRVS
  • Perfect infinitive: STETISSE
  • Gerund: STANDVM
  • Supine: STATV(M)
  • Present participle: STANS
• Indicative:
  • Present: STO, STAS, STAT, STAMVS, STATIS, STANT
  • Imperfect: STABAM, STABAS, STABAT, STABAMVS, STABATIS, STABANT
  • Future: STABO, STABIS, STABIT, STABIMVS, STABITIS, STABVNT
  • Perfect: STETI, STETISTI, STETIT, STETIMVS, STETISTIS, STETERVNT
  • Pluperfect: STETERAM, STETERAS, STETERAT, STETERAMVS, STETERATIS, STETERANT
  • Future anterior: STETERO, STETERIS, STETERIT, STETERIMVS, STETERITIS, STETERINT
• Subjunctive:
  • Present: STEM, STES, STET, STEMVS, STETIS, STENT
  • Imperfect: STAREM, STARES, STARET, STAREMVS, STARETIS, STARENT
  • Perfect: STETERIM, STETERIS, STETERIT, STETERIMVS, STETERITIS, STETERINT,
  • Pluperfect: STETISSEM, STETISSES, STETISSET, STETISSEMVS, STETISSETIS, STETISSENT,
• Imperative: STA, STATE

In Castilian/Spanish

SER

ESTAR

† Estar is usually made reflexive in the imperative.

In Catalan

SER/ÉSSER

• Non-finite:
  • Infinitive: ser/ésser
  • Gerund: sent/essent
  • Past participle: estat/sigut/sét
• Indicative:
  • Present: sóc, ets, és, som, sou, són
  • Imperfect: era, eres, era, érem, éreu, eren
  • Preterite: fui, fores, fou, fórem, fóreu, foren
  • Future: seré, seràs, serà, serem, sereu, seran
• Conditional:
  • seria, series, seria, seria, seríem, seríeu, serien / fóra, fores, fóra, fórem, fóreu, foren
• Subjunctive:
  • Present: sigui, siguis, sigui, siguem, sigueu, siguin / siga, sigues, siga, siguem, sigueu, siguen
  • Imperfect: fos, fossis, fos, fóssim/fóssem, fóssiu/fósseu, fossin/fossen
• Imperative:
  • sigues, sigueu/sigau

ESTAR

• Non-finite:
  • Infinitive: estar
  • Gerund: estant
  • Past participle: estat
• Indicative:
  • Present: estic, estàs, està, estem/estam, esteu/estau, estan
  • Imperfect: estava, estaves, estava, estàvem, estàveu, estaven
  • Preterite: estiguí, estigueres, estigué, estiguérem, estiguéreu, estigueren
  • Future: estaré, estaràs, estarà, estarem, estareu, estaran
• Conditional:
  • estaria, estaries, estaria, estaríem, estaríeu, estarien
• Subjunctive:
  • Present: estigui, estiguis, estigui, estiguem, estigueu, estiguin / estiga, estigues, estiga, estiguem, estigueu, estiguen
  • Imperfect: estigués, estiguessis, estigués, estiguéssim/estiguéssem, estiguéssiu/estiguésseu, estiguessin/estiguessen
• Imperative:
  • estigues, estigueu/estigau

In French

ÊTRE

• Non-finite:
  • Infinitive: être
  • Gerund/present participle: étant
  • Past participle: été
• Indicative:
  • Present: suis, es, est, sommes, êtes, sont
  • Imperfect: étais, étais, était, étions, étiez, étaient
  • Past historic: fus, fus, fut, fûmes, fûtes, furent
  • Future: serai, seras, sera, serons, serez, seront
• Conditional:
  • serais, serais, serait, serions, seriez, seraient
• Subjunctive:
  • Present: sois, sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient
  • Imperfect: fusse, fusses, fût, fussions, fussiez, fussent
• Imperative:
  • sois, soyez

In Italian

ESSERE

• Non-finite:
  • Infinitive: essere
  • Gerund: essendo
  • Past participle: stato (from stare)
• Indicative:
  • Present: sono, sei, è, siamo, siete, sono
  • Imperfect: ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano
  • Past historic: fui, fosti, fu, fummo, foste, furono
  • Future: sarò, sarai, sarà, saremo, sarete, saranno
• Conditional:
  • sarei, saresti, sarebbe, saremmo, sareste, sarebbero
• Subjunctive:
  • Present: sia, sia, sia, siamo, siate, siano
  • Imperfect: fossi, fossi, fosse, fossimo, foste, fossero
• Imperative:
  • sii, siate

STARE

• Non-finite:
  • Infinitive: stare
  • Gerund: stando
  • Past participle: stato
• Indicative:
  • Present: sto, stai, sta, stiamo, state, stanno
  • Imperfect: stavo, stavi, stava, stavamo, stavate, stavano
  • Past historic: stetti, stesti, stette, stemmo, steste, stettero
  • Future: starò, starai, starà, staremo, starete, staranno
• Conditional:
  • starei, staresti, starebbe, staremmo, stareste, starebbero
• Subjunctive:
  • Present: stia, stia, stia, stiamo, stiate, stiano
  • Imperfect: stessi, stessi, stesse, stessimo, steste, stessero
• Imperative:
  • sta’, state

In Portuguese

SER

• Non-finite:
  • Impersonal infinitive: ser
  • Personal infinitive: ser, seres, ser, sermos, serdes, serem
  • Gerund: sendo
  • Past participle: sido
• Indicative:
  • Present: sou, és, é, somos, sois, são
  • Imperfect: era, eras, era, éramos, éreis, eram
  • Preterite: fui, foste, foi, fomos, fostes, foram
  • Pluperfect: fora, foras, fora, fôramos, fôreis, foram
  • Future: serei, serás, será, seremos, sereis, serão
• Conditional:
  • seria, serias, seria, seríamos, seríeis, seriam
• Subjunctive:
  • Present: seja, sejas, seja, sejamos, sejais, sejam
  • Imperfect: fosse, fosses, fosse, fôssemos, fôsseis, fossem
  • Future: for, fores, for, formos, fordes, forem
• Imperative:
  • sê, sede

ESTAR

• Non-finite:
  • Impersonal Infinitive: estar
  • Personal infinitive: estar, estares, estar, estarmos, estardes, estarem
  • Gerund: estando
  • Past participle: estado
• Indicative:
  • Present: estou, estás, está, estamos, estais, estão
  • Imperfect: estava, estavas, estava, estávamos, estáveis, estavam
  • Preterite: estive, estiveste, esteve, estivemos, estivestes, estiveram
  • Pluperfect: estivera, estiveras, estivera, estivéramos, estivéreis, estiveram
  • Future: estarei, estarás, estará, estaremos, estareis, estarão
• Conditional:
  • estaria, estarias, estaria, estaríamos, estaríeis, estariam
• Subjunctive:
  • Present: esteja, estejas, esteja, estejamos, estejais, estejam
  • Imperfect: estivesse, estivesses, estivesse, estivéssemos, estivésseis, estivessem
  • Future: estiver, estiveres, estiver, estivermos, estiverdes, estiverem
• Imperative:
  • está, estai

In Romanian

FI

• Non-finite:
  • Infinitive: a fi, fire
  • Gerund: fiind
  • Past participle: fost
• Indicative:
  • Present: sunt, eşti, e(ste), suntem, sunteţi, sunt
  • Pluperfect: fusesem, fuseseşi, fusese, fuseserăm, fuseserăţi, fuseseră
  • Imperfect: eram, erai, era, eram, eraţi, erau
  • Preterite:
    1. fusei, fuseşi, fuse, fuserăm, fuserăţi, fuseră
    2. fui, fuşi, fu, furăm, furăţi, fură
    3. am fost, ai fost, a fost, am fost aţi fost, au fost;
  • Future:
    1. voi fi, vei fi, va fi, vom fi, veţi fi, vor fi
    2. o să fiu, o să fii, o să fie, o să fim, o să fiţi, o să fie
    3. oi fi, îi fi, a fi, om fi, îţi fi, or fi
  • Perfect Future:
    1. voi fi fost, vei fi fost, va fi fost, vom fi fost, veţi fi fost, vor fi fost
• Conditional: aş fi, ai fi, ar fi, am fi, aţi fi, ar fi
• Perfect Conditional: aş fi fost, ai fi fost, ar fi fost, am fi fost, aţi fi , ar fi fost
• Subjunctive: să fiu, să fii, să fie, să fim, să fiţi, să fie
• Perfect Subjunctive: să fi fost, să fi fost, să fi fost, să fi fost, să fi fost, să fi fost
• Imperative: fii, fiţi

In Romansh

ESSER

• Non-finite:
  • Infinitive: esser
  • Gerund: essend~siond
  • Past participle: stà
• Indicative:
  • Present: sun, es, è, essan, essas, èn
  • Imperfect: era, eras, era, eran, eras, eran
• Conditional:
  • fiss, fissas, fiss, fissan, fissas, fissan
• Subjunctive:
  • Present: saja, sajas, saja, sajan, sajas, sajan
• Imperative:
  • saja, sajas

STAR

See also

• Verb
  • Copula
  • Grammatical conjugation
• Latin
  • Latin grammar
  • Latin declension
  • Latin conjugation
  • Vulgar Latin
• Romance language
  • Catalan language
  • French language
    • French grammar
  • Italian language
  • Portuguese language
    • Portuguese conjugation
    • Portuguese pronouns
  • Romanian language
  • Romansh language
  • Spanish language
    • Spanish grammar
• Romance Language Creoles
  • Haitian Creole language
  • French-based creole languages
  • Portuguese Creole
  • Spanish-based creole languages

Further reading

PDF documents, mainly on the Spanish copula

• Ser and Estar from a Cognitive Perspective: Method and Analysis
• The Acquisition of the Verbs Ser and Estar in Undergraduate Students (in the US)
• Acquisition of copulas ser and estar in Spanish: learning lexico-semantics, syntax and discourse
• Grammaticalization of ser and estar in Romance languages

 * indicates an incorrect or unattested form.