estar

Estar is one of the two Spanish verbs that translate as English "to be" — the other being ser. Where ser handles identity, essence, and defining traits, estar handles location, state, condition, and progressive action. Estoy en Madrid (I am in Madrid — location), está cansada (she is tired — state), estamos hablando (we are talking — progressive). It is one of the four or five most frequent verbs in the language and is fully irregular in roughly half its paradigm.

The irregularities of estar are clustered in three places: the present indicative (with its unusual estoy yo-form and obligatory accents on most other persons), the preterite (a fully irregular u-stem: estuve, estuviste, estuvo…), and the present subjunctive (where every form except estemos takes an accent: esté, estés, esté, estemos, estéis, estén). Outside these three tenses, estar is regular.

Non-finite forms

The participle and gerundio are regular. The infinitive estar itself is the source of all the surface irregularity in the conjugated forms.

Indicative — simple tenses

Presente — the high-traffic form

Three things to memorize:

1. The yo-form is estoy, not esto. The final -y is shared with a handful of other irregular yo-forms (soy, doy, voy) and reflects an older diphthongal ending.
2. Every form except estoy and estamos carries an obligatory accent: estás, está, estáis, están. The accent shifts the stress to the final syllable and distinguishes the verb from the demonstrative esta, estas.
3. Estamos is the only form without an accent — its stress falls naturally on the penultimate syllable per default Spanish rules.

Pretérito perfecto simple — u-stem irregular

This is the second great irregularity of estar: in the preterite, the entire stem changes to estuv-, and the endings are the so-called "strong preterite" endings shared by tener, andar, poder, poner, saber, haber (tuv-, anduv-, pud-, pus-, sup-, hub-) — all carrying -e in the yo-form (no accent) and -o in the third person (no accent), unlike regular preterites.

Pay attention: there is no accent on estuve or estuvo — unlike regular preterites where the yo and third-person forms take an accent (hablé, habló), the strong preterite endings are unstressed on the final vowel and so unaccented.

Pretérito imperfecto — regular -ar

The imperfect of estar is regular — it follows the standard -aba endings of any -ar verb. The single accent appears on estábamos per default proparoxytone rules.

Futuro simple — regular

The future of probability is one of the most useful peninsular constructions: ¿Dónde estará Marta? doesn't ask where Marta will be later — it asks where might Marta be (right now)? Spanish speakers use this constantly for present speculation.

Condicional — regular

Indicative — compound tenses

All compound tenses pair haber + the regular participle estado.

Pretérito perfecto compuesto

In peninsular Spanish he estado is the everyday form for events tied to the current day or recent time frame — far more frequent than in Latin America, where the simple preterite estuve would usually be chosen for the same situation.

Pretérito pluscuamperfecto

Futuro compuesto

Condicional compuesto

Subjunctive — simple tenses

Presente de subjuntivo — accents almost everywhere

The present subjunctive is the third major irregularity. The stem is est- (as expected from the subjunctive of an -ar verb), but five of the six forms carry an accent:

Estemos is the only form without an accent (penultimate stress falls naturally on -te-). Every other form needs the written accent to mark the final-syllable stress. Without these accents, the forms are misspelled — estes is not a Spanish word in standard orthography, and este without an accent means "this" (demonstrative).

Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se) — u-stem, like the preterite

The imperfect subjunctive is built from the third-person plural preterite (estuvieron) minus the -ron ending, plus -ra/-se endings — so the u-stem carries through.

In peninsular Spanish, -ra dominates everyday speech; -se sounds more literary or formal.

Subjunctive — compound tenses

Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo

Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo

Imperative

The literal imperative of estar (¡está quieto! — "stay still!", ¡estad atentos! — "pay attention!") is more limited than that of most verbs, because estar describes states, not actions one can simply command into being. But the reflexive ¡estate quieto! / ¡estaos quietos! is genuinely frequent in everyday Spain, especially with children.

The peninsular reflexive vosotros affirmative form drops the -d: estad + os becomes estaos (not estados).

Core uses of estar

Estar covers a wide functional territory. Knowing it well means recognizing each of these uses:

High-frequency peninsular estar expressions

The cardinal English-speaker error: confusing ser and estar

The biggest trap of estar is not its irregular forms — it's choosing estar vs ser. English compresses both into "to be"; Spanish forces a constant choice. The full distinction has its own page (see choosing/ser-vs-estar), but a quick summary:

• Permanent / defining traits → ser: Soy alto. Es médico. Somos de Granada.
• Temporary states or locations → estar: Estoy cansado. Está en Granada. Estamos contentos.

Some adjectives change meaning entirely depending on which verb they take:

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Estar is fully irregular: estoy in the yo-form, accents on estás, está, estáis, están, a u-stem preterite (estuve, estuviste, estuvo…), and an accented subjunctive (esté, estés, esté, estemos, estéis, estén).
• Estamos (present) and estemos (subjunctive) are the only present-tense forms without an accent — every other form needs the accent in writing.
• The imperfect (estaba), the future (estaré), the conditional (estaría) and the participle (estado) are regular — once you know the present and preterite irregularities, the rest of estar falls into place.
• The vosotros affirmative imperative is estad (regular -ad ending). The reflexive form drops the -d: estaos quietos.
• Estar covers location, temporary states, the progressive (estoy comiendo), dates, prices, mood, and several adjective-shifting contexts. Ser covers identity and permanent traits.
• In peninsular Spanish, he estado is the everyday form for completed actions in the current day or recent period; the simple preterite estuve is preferred for events tied to a closed past time frame (ayer, el año pasado, en 2018).
• The construction estar en plan + adjective/noun ("to be in a mode/mood of") is uniquely peninsular and very common in informal Spain — worth recognizing if not yet producing.