Estar is the second of Spanish's two to be verbs. Where ser covers defining, essential properties, estar covers where things are and how they are right now. The present-indicative paradigm — estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están — is mostly regular except for its first-person form estoy (with the unexpected -y) and its written accents on four of the six forms, which are obligatory and cannot be omitted.
The full present indicative
| Subject | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | estoy |
| tú | estás |
| él / ella / usted | está |
| nosotros / nosotras | estamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | estáis |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | están |
Four of the six forms carry an obligatory written accent: estás, está, estáis, están. Without the accent the words are misspelled — esta without the accent is a different word entirely (the feminine singular demonstrative, as in esta casa "this house"). The two unaccented forms are estoy (single syllable; no accent rule applies) and estamos (stress on the penultimate syllable -ta-, which is the regular pattern for words ending in -s, so no accent needed).
The peninsular vosotros form estáis is in constant use. ¿Cómo estáis? is the everyday "how are you guys?", far more common than ¿cómo están? (which would sound formal or non-Spanish).
Estoy en casa, ¿llamo más tarde?
I'm at home — should I call later?
¿Cómo estáis? Hace tiempo que no nos vemos.
How are you guys? It's been a while since we've seen each other.
Mis padres están en Galicia este fin de semana.
My parents are in Galicia this weekend.
Why estoy ends in -y
The unexpected -y in estoy (and also in soy, doy, voy) is a fossilised remnant of an older form. In medieval Spanish, the first person of these verbs ended in -o (so estó, so, do, vo), and a clitic particle y — descended from Latin ibi "there" — became attached and fused into the verb across centuries. The same y still surfaces in hay (ha + y). You don't need the history to use the verb, but if you ever wondered why these four verbs share this odd letter, that is the reason.
When to use estar
Estar is used for location, condition, ongoing actions, and resultant states. The mnemonic many learners use is PLACE: Position, Location, Action, Condition, Emotion.
Physical location of people and things
This is the cleanest use of estar. Anything that physically occupies a place — a person, an object, a building, a city on a map — takes estar.
Las llaves están en el cajón de la cocina.
The keys are in the kitchen drawer.
¿Dónde estás? Te llevo esperando media hora.
Where are you? I've been waiting for you for half an hour.
Madrid está en el centro de la península.
Madrid is in the centre of the peninsula.
Compare with ser, which marks where an event takes place: La fiesta es en mi casa (the party takes place at my house), but Los invitados están en mi casa (the guests are physically present at my house).
Emotional and physical states
How someone is feeling or is doing — including health, mood, and temporary physical states — takes estar.
Estoy cansado, llevo todo el día trabajando.
I'm tired, I've been working all day.
Mi hermana está enfadada conmigo porque no la llamé.
My sister is angry with me because I didn't call her.
¿Estás bien? Te veo un poco pálido.
Are you OK? You look a bit pale.
The contrast with ser matters here. Ser cansado would mean "to be a tiring person" (a defining trait); estar cansado means "to be tired right now" (a current state). The same adjective changes meaning depending on which copular verb it pairs with — see choosing ser vs estar.
Progressive: estar + gerund
The present progressive in Spanish is estar in the present + the gerund (the -ando / -iendo form). It expresses an action that is genuinely in progress at the moment of speaking — not a habitual or general action.
Estamos comiendo, ¿te llamamos luego?
We're (right now) eating — should we call you later?
¿Qué estás haciendo? — Nada, estoy viendo una serie.
What are you doing? — Nothing, I'm watching a series.
Note that the simple present often does this job too in Spanish. ¿Qué haces? is just as natural as ¿Qué estás haciendo? in everyday speech — see usos del presente de indicativo for when each is preferred.
Recent change or perceived state
A particularly peninsular use of estar with adjectives expresses how someone looks or seems at the moment — often implying a perceived change from a previous state. The contrast with English is sharp: where English would say "you look great today," Spanish reaches for estar.
¡Qué guapa estás hoy!
You look great today!
El café está buenísimo, ¿de dónde es?
The coffee is amazing — where's it from?
A defining version of the same idea would use ser: Es guapa means "she is good-looking (as a general fact)"; Está guapa hoy means "she looks good today (perceived right now)."
A peninsular colloquialism: estar en plan…
In Spain, estar en plan... is one of the most common informal fillers, used to introduce an attitude, a quotation, or a vibe. It is roughly equivalent to "to be like..." in informal English. It belongs squarely to informal register and is heard constantly among under-40 speakers in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and elsewhere.
Está en plan: 'No quiero hablar del tema'.
(informal) She's like, 'I don't want to talk about it.'
Estoy en plan tranquilo este finde, sin planes.
(informal) I'm in chill mode this weekend, no plans.
This use is genuinely peninsular — Latin American Spanish has equivalent constructions (onda, modo, como que) but not the en plan fixed expression. For more, see en plan as a discourse marker.
A short peninsular dialogue
Three friends meeting up. Notice the rapid alternation between location uses, state uses, and the progressive — all with estar.
—¿Dónde estáis? Llevo aquí un cuarto de hora.
—Where are you guys? I've been here for fifteen minutes.
—Estamos saliendo del metro, llegamos en dos minutos.
—We're just coming out of the metro, we'll be there in two minutes.
—Vale. Oye, ¿está Marta enfadada conmigo o me lo parece?
—OK. Hey, is Marta angry with me or am I imagining it?
Common mistakes
These are the English-speaker errors that recur on every page of beginner writing. Each comes from mapping English to be onto the wrong Spanish verb.
❌ Estoy un profesor.
Wrong: profession and identity take ser, not estar.
✅ Soy profesor.
Correct: ser for who/what someone is.
❌ Soy en casa.
Wrong: physical location of a person takes estar.
✅ Estoy en casa.
Correct: estar + location.
❌ Vosotros estais cansados.
Wrong: the obligatory accent on -áis is missing.
✅ Vosotros estáis cansados.
Correct: the accent on -á- is non-optional.
❌ Mi hermana esta enfadada conmigo.
Wrong: está requires a written accent (otherwise it's a different word).
✅ Mi hermana está enfadada conmigo.
Correct: está with the accent on -á-.
❌ ¿Cómo están, chicos?
Marked in Spain when addressing friends: sounds formal or LatAm-trained.
✅ ¿Cómo estáis, chicos?
Correct with friends in Spain: vosotros + estáis.
❌ Estoy aburrido — siempre cuento los mismos chistes.
Means 'I'm bored,' which doesn't match the context here.
✅ Soy aburrido — siempre cuento los mismos chistes.
Correct for 'I'm a boring person' (a defining trait, hence ser).
With ser and estar both in place, the next step is the systematic side-by-side: see choosing ser vs estar for the cases where the same adjective takes either verb with a meaning change, plus the full catalogue of contrasts.
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Conjugación completa de estarA1 — Complete conjugation reference for the verb estar across all tenses and moods, with peninsular vosotros forms and accent rules.
- Usos de estarA2 — A complete catalogue of when to use estar — location, emotional and physical states, progressive tenses, resultant states, and idioms.
- Cómo elegir entre ser y estarA2 — The deep decision guide for Spanish's two verbs of 'being.' SER is identity, ESTAR is state — and the popular 'permanent vs temporary' rule is wrong (estar muerto, son las cinco both kill it). The full domain map with the event-vs-object rule, the location trap, and the peninsular subjective-evaluation use of estar.
- Presente de indicativo: serA1 — The full peninsular conjugation of ser — soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son — with its core uses for identity, origin, profession, time, and material.
- En plan: el 'like' del español peninsular contemporáneoB1 — En plan exploded into peninsular speech in the 1990s and now dominates youth conversation — a quotative, an approximation, a manner-marker, an example-introducer. From the older 'en plan de' ('in the manner of'), it has become Spain's closest equivalent to English 'like.'