Learn how to use the Spanish verb estar, which means "to be"
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Fernando: How is everything? In this lesson, we'll talk about the verb estar. The conversation will take place in a restaurant, as a meal is being served. The conversation is between Jimmy, Valentina, Jorge, and the waiter. The speakers will be using the familiar register. |
| Fernando: Let's start with the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| MESERA: Bueno, una carne asada, una orden de chile colorado, menudo, chiles rellenos, tilapia entera frita, y tinga de puerco. |
| VALENTINA &JIMMY: Gracias. |
| SR. RODRÍGUEZ: ¡Buen provecho! |
| TODOS: Gracias. |
| JORGE: Jimmy, prueba ésto... |
| VALENTINA: Es menudo. |
| JORGE: Bueno, ¿qué opinas? |
| JIMMY: Está riquísimo. |
| VALENTINA: ¡Le gusta! Bueno, prueba esta salsa con tu tortilla. |
| JIMMY (enchilándose): No está mal… |
| JORGE: [Risas]. Estás sudando. |
| VALENTINA: Bueno, Jimmy, ¿estás libre mañana? |
| JORGE: Vamos a hacer una carne asada en la playa. ¿Quieres venir? |
| JIMMY: Bueno, si no es mucha molestia. |
| JORGE: Para nada. Ve a la calle 28, y camina hacia la playa. Cuando llegues, me llamas. Te paso mi número de teléfono ¿sale? |
| JIMMY: ¡Sale! |
| JP: One more time, with the translation. |
| MESERA: Bueno, una carne asada, una orden de chile colorado, menudo, chiles rellenos, tilapia entera frita, y tinga de puerco. |
| WAITRESS: Okay, one carne asada, one order of chile colorado, menudo, chiles rellenos, tilapia entera frita, and tinga de puerco. |
| VALENTINA &JIMMY: Gracias. |
| VALENTINA &JIMMY: Thanks. |
| SR. RODRÍGUEZ: ¡Buen provecho! |
| EL SR. RODRÍGUEZ: Enjoy! |
| TODOS: Gracias. |
| TODOS: Thanks. |
| JORGE: Jimmy, prueba ésto... |
| JORGE: Jimmy, try this. |
| VALENTINA: Es menudo. |
| VALENTINA: It's menudo. |
| JORGE: Bueno, ¿qué opinas? |
| JORGE: So? What do you think? |
| JIMMY: Está riquísimo. |
| JIMMY: It's delicious. |
| VALENTINA: ¡Le gusta! Bueno, prueba esta salsa con tu tortilla. |
| VALENTINA: He likes it! Okay, try this salsa with your tortilla. |
| JIMMY (enchilándose): No está mal… |
| JIMMY (choking): It's not bad... |
| JORGE: [Risas]. Estás sudando. |
| JORGE: [Laughter] He's sweating. |
| VALENTINA: Bueno, Jimmy, ¿estás libre mañana? |
| VALENTINA: So Jimmy, are you free tomorrow? |
| JORGE: Vamos a hacer una carne asada en la playa. ¿Quieres venir? |
| JORGE: We're going to grill on the beach. Do you want to come? |
| JIMMY: Bueno, si no es mucha molestia. |
| JIMMY: Well, if it's not an imposition. |
| JORGE: Para nada. Ve a la calle 28, y camina hacia la playa. Cuando llegues, me llamas. Te paso mi número de teléfono ¿sale? |
| JORGE: Not at all. Go to twenty-eighth street and walk toward the beach. When you get there, call me. I'll write down my phone number. Cool? |
| JIMMY: ¡Sale! |
| JIMMY: Cool. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: You know, Fernando, the food lessons are my favorite. |
| Fernando: Well, then you'll like this one, then we've got carne asada, chile colorado, menudo, chiles rellenos, tilapia frita, tinga de puerco. |
| JP: Nice, no some of these foods are new to our boy Jimmy. |
| Fernando: That's right. Jorge and Valentina are making sure he gets a bite of everything. He likes menudo, but the salsa he tries might be a little much for him. |
| JP: So what's this about a barbecue later? |
| Fernando: Valentina and Jorge invite Jimmy to a carne asada en la playa... on the beach. The directions he gets are ve a la calle 28, y camina hacia la playa. |
| JP: Go to 29th street and walk toward the beach. |
| Fernando: Cuando llegues, me llamas. |
| JP: Call me when you get there. Sounds like fun! |
| JP: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fernando: Si no es mucha molestia. [natural native speed] |
| JP: If it's not an imposition. |
| Fernando: Si no es mucha molestia. [slowly - broken down by |
| syllable] |
| Fernando: Si no es mucha molestia. [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: Buen provecho. [natural native speed] |
| JP: Bon appetit. |
| Fernando: Buen provecho. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: Buen provecho. [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: Está riquísimo. [natural native speed] |
| JP: It's delicious. |
| Fernando: Está riquísimo. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: Está riquísimo. [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: opinar [natural native speed] |
| JP: to express an opinion |
| Fernando: opinar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: opinar [natural native speed] |
| JP: The last word for today. |
| Fernando: probar [natural native speed] |
| JP: to try |
| Fernando: probar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: probar [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| JP: Ok, now let’s take a look at these words and phrases, what’s first? |
| Fernando: Let's take a look at this phrase first... Si no es mucha molestia. |
| JP: Si no es mucha molestia... literally this is like, "if it's not too much trouble... if it's not too much of a bother." |
| Fernando: Right. Jimmy says this to accept Jorge and Valentina's invitation to the carne asada. "Si no es mucha molestia." |
| JP: That Jimmy is always so modest. |
| Fernando: The next phrase we have is buen provecho. |
| JP: Buen provecho. One of the most beautiful phrases in the Spanish language. Buen provecho. It means like "enjoy your meal." |
| Fernando: Exactly. ¡Buen provecho! |
| JP: ¡Gracias! What's next? |
| Fernando: Está riquísimo. |
| JP: Ok, we're talking about food here. Está riquísimo, this means, it's super delicious. Está rico would be it's delicious, and we add that -ísimo suffix to make it superlative. It's super delicous. |
| Fernando: Está riquísmo. Ok, two wrap it up, we have a couple of verbs. First "opinar." |
| JP: Opinar. We don't have an exact translation in English... but it means something like "to have an opinion." It's a verb in Spanish. |
| Fernando: You could say "yo opino que está riquísimo." |
| JP: Right. Literally this is "I have the opinion that it's delicious." But in English we'd probably say "I think it's delicious." How did we use opinar in the dialog? |
| Fernando: Jorge was asking Jimmy what he thought about his first taste of menudo. He asked "¿Qué opinas?" that's opinar |
| JP: Muy bien. |
| Fernando: Ok, one more verb... probar |
| JP: Probar... hmmm, when we're talking about food, probar means to taste. |
| Fernando: Yes, so when Jorge says points to the menudo and says "Jimmy, prueba ésto"... |
| JP: Jimmy, try this, taste this.. |
| Fernando: Sí. Prueba.. it's a form of the verb probar. Ok, JP, let's do some grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| JP: Ok, today I want to talk about the verb "estar" we hear it a few times in the dialog... |
| Fernando: Estar means "to be." |
| JP: Yes, and this can be a sticky subject, because we already know another verb ser, which also means to be. So there are two kinds of "to be" in Spanish, and it's easy to get mired down in the difference. |
| Fernando: Ok... we'll can you give us the rule of thumb to follow? |
| JP: Sure. The rule of thumb is that you use "estar" to talk about temporary states, conditions that can change. Ser, on the other hand, is used to talk about identity. |
| Fernando: Ok, we'll it's perfectly clear to me... |
| JP: Of course it is. Let's look at some examples of estar in the dialog. |
| Fernando: Bien. So for example, Valentina asks ¿estás libre mañana? Are you free tomorrow? |
| JP: Ok, like I said, estar talks about states. So ¿estás libre? are you free... being free is not a question of identity, not in this case at least... she just wants to know if Jimmy is free tomorrow. |
| Fernando: Right, the next day things could change, he might not be free. |
| JP: So that's why we use estar. Same with when Jimmy says that the menudo is delicious. |
| Fernando: He says "está riquísimo." Now hold on... Menudo is always delicious... isn't deliciousness part of the identity of menudo? |
| JP: Well, when we talk about food tastes, we use estar because menudo in general might always be delicious, but... that particular menudo, that's in front of him, it will eventually get cold, and if they leave it out it can go bad.... you know what I'm saying? So at that moment, while it's fresh and hot, it's in a temporary state of being delicious. |
| Fernando: Ok, so that's why we say "está riquísimo" with estar. Now what about when Jorge says "está sudando" he's sweating. |
| JP: Well same thing, the sweating is a temporary state, it's because he ate some spicy salsa. Sweating is just something he's doing now, it's not part of Jimmy's identity. |
| Fernando: ah.... |
| JP: ....I'm assuming. |
| Fernando: Right. So that's why we used estar there with está sudando. |
| JP: Now remember, you gotta use ser when you talk about identity, so Fernando: tú eres mexicano. |
| Fernando: Yes, that's part of my identity. |
| JP: If I said "tú estás mexicano...." |
| Fernando: That's just wrong. |
| JP: So ser and estar both mean “to be”. Ser goes with identity, estar goes with temporary states and conditions that change. |
Outro |
| Fernando: That just about does it for today, JP. |
| JP: Hasta luego. |
| Fernando: ¡Adiós! |
Comments
Hide