Estar is irregular, but in a much more contained way than ser. Unlike ser, whose forms come from three different Latin verbs, estar descends cleanly from Latin stare (to stand) and keeps a single recognizable stem across most of its tenses. The two real headaches are (1) the written accents in the present tense and present subjunctive — get them wrong and the word is misspelled, and (2) the u-stem preterite (estuve, estuviste…), which it shares with a small family of high-frequency verbs (tener, andar, poder, poner, saber).
This page gives every tense in full, with peninsular vosotros forms, and flags the accent rules that learners stumble on most.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | estar |
| Gerundio | estando |
| Participio | estado |
All three are entirely regular in shape. Estar is one of very few Spanish verbs where the infinitive carries an end-stressed accent pattern by default but no written mark — the stress falls on the final syllable (es-TAR).
Indicative
Presente
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | estoy |
| tú | estás |
| él / ella / usted | está |
| nosotros / nosotras | estamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | estáis |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | están |
Critical accent rule: every form except estoy and estamos carries a written accent. The stress falls on the final syllable in estás, está, estáis, están, and the written accent is mandatory. Writing estas without the accent means "these (feminine)" — a completely different word.
¿Cómo estáis vosotros? — Muy bien, gracias, ¿y tú?
How are you (all)? — Very well, thanks, and you?
Estas chicas están estudiando para el examen.
These girls are studying for the exam.
Notice the contrast in the second sentence: estas (no accent, feminine plural demonstrative — "these") vs están (with accent, verb — "they are"). They are different words; the accent is not optional decoration.
Pretérito indefinido
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | estuve |
| tú | estuviste |
| él / ella / usted | estuvo |
| nosotros | estuvimos |
| vosotros | estuvisteis |
| ellos / ustedes | estuvieron |
This is the u-stem preterite: the stem changes to estuv- and the endings are the unstressed -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron (no written accents on estuve or estuvo). The same pattern appears in tener → tuv-, andar → anduv-, poder → pud-, poner → pus-, saber → sup-. Learn one and you have learned the framework for all of them.
El año pasado estuvimos en Galicia tres semanas, fue maravilloso.
Last year we spent three weeks in Galicia, it was wonderful.
The preterite of estar often translates not as "was/were" but as "spent (a period of time somewhere)" or "stayed" — the closed time-frame meaning of the Spanish preterite shifts the natural English translation.
Imperfecto
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | estaba |
| tú | estabas |
| él / ella / usted | estaba |
| nosotros | estábamos |
| vosotros | estabais |
| ellos / ustedes | estaban |
The imperfect is fully regular for estar. Note the accent on estábamos — required because the stress lands on the antepenultimate syllable.
Cuando llamasteis, estábamos cenando todos juntos.
When you (all) called, we were all having dinner together.
Futuro simple
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | estaré |
| tú | estarás |
| él / ella / usted | estará |
| nosotros | estaremos |
| vosotros | estaréis |
| ellos / ustedes | estarán |
Regular: stem estar- plus the standard future endings. Estar in the future is also extremely common in expressing conjecture about the present: estarán durmiendo can mean "they must be sleeping" rather than "they will be sleeping."
Estaremos en casa toda la tarde si queréis pasaros.
We'll be home all afternoon if you (all) want to drop by.
¿Dónde estará mi móvil? — Estará en el bolso, como siempre.
Where can my phone be? — It must be in my bag, like always.
Condicional simple
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | estaría |
| tú | estarías |
| él / ella / usted | estaría |
| nosotros | estaríamos |
| vosotros | estaríais |
| ellos / ustedes | estarían |
Estaríamos encantados de ayudaros si nos necesitáis.
We would be delighted to help you (all) if you need us.
Compound tenses (indicative)
All compound tenses use haber + the participle estado. The participle never agrees in compound tenses.
| Tense | Example (yo) | Example (vosotros) |
|---|---|---|
| Pretérito perfecto | he estado | habéis estado |
| Pluscuamperfecto | había estado | habíais estado |
| Futuro compuesto | habré estado | habréis estado |
| Condicional compuesto | habría estado | habríais estado |
¿Habéis estado alguna vez en San Sebastián? Os encantará.
Have you (all) ever been to San Sebastián? You'll love it.
The compound perfect he estado is very common in Spain — much more so than in Latin America — because peninsular Spanish prefers the present perfect for any past event connected to the present day or week.
Subjunctive
Presente de subjuntivo
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | esté |
| tú | estés |
| él / ella / usted | esté |
| nosotros | estemos |
| vosotros | estéis |
| ellos / ustedes | estén |
Mandatory accents on esté, estés, esté, estéis, estén. Only estemos lacks an accent (because the stress already falls naturally on the penultimate syllable). Without the accent, estes would be misread as ESS-tess (and is, anyway, not a word) — the form is required to be stressed es-TÉS, hence the mark.
Espero que estéis bien después del viaje tan largo.
I hope you (all) are well after such a long trip.
No creo que mi padre esté de acuerdo con esa decisión.
I don't think my father agrees with that decision.
Imperfecto de subjuntivo
Both forms (-ra and -se) are equally valid in Spain. The -ra is more common in speech; the -se sounds slightly more literary or formal.
| Person | -ra form | -se form |
|---|---|---|
| yo | estuviera | estuviese |
| tú | estuvieras | estuvieses |
| él / usted | estuviera | estuviese |
| nosotros | estuviéramos | estuviésemos |
| vosotros | estuvierais | estuvieseis |
| ellos / ustedes | estuvieran | estuviesen |
The accents on estuviéramos and estuviésemos are mandatory.
Si estuvieras aquí, te lo enseñaría yo mismo.
If you were here, I'd show it to you myself.
Compound subjunctive
| Tense | Example (yo) | Example (vosotros) |
|---|---|---|
| Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo | haya estado | hayáis estado |
| Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo | hubiera/hubiese estado | hubierais/hubieseis estado |
Me alegro de que hayáis estado tan tranquilos durante la tormenta.
I'm glad you (all) stayed so calm during the storm.
Imperative
| Person | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tú | está | no estés |
| usted | esté | no esté |
| nosotros | estemos | no estemos |
| vosotros | estad | no estéis |
| ustedes | estén | no estén |
In practice, the affirmative imperative of estar is rare in everyday Spanish — you do not often command someone to be in a state. It does surface in fixed expressions: está tranquilo ("relax / take it easy"), estate quieto (reflexive — "stay still"), and in encouragement contexts. The reflexive imperative estate / estaos shows a peninsular twist: the vosotros form drops the -d before the reflexive -os and becomes estaos, not estadosos.
Estate tranquilo, no va a pasar nada malo.
Relax, nothing bad is going to happen.
Estaos quietos un momento, por favor.
Stay still for a moment, please. (vosotros)
The negative vosotros no estéis is more frequent than the affirmative estad in real speech.
High-frequency idioms with estar
These are everyday collocations in Spain. They are not "exceptions" to the estar rule — they all fit cleanly under state, condition, or circumstance — but they are worth memorizing as units.
- estar de acuerdo → to agree: Estamos de acuerdo contigo.
- estar a punto de
- estar para
- infinitive → to be in the mood for / on the verge of: No estoy para bromas hoy.
- estar harto de → to be fed up with: Estoy harto de esperar.
- estar de vacaciones / de viaje / de moda → to be on holiday / travelling / in fashion: Esos pantalones están muy de moda.
- estar en plan
- estar al día → to be up to date: Tengo que estar al día con las noticias.
- estar como una cabra (informal) → to be crazy: Mi hermano está como una cabra.
Estoy hasta las narices de tener que repetir las cosas.
I'm fed up to the back teeth of having to repeat things.
Estamos en plan de no hacer nada esta noche, ¿te apuntas?
We're in a do-nothing mood tonight, want to join?
Common Mistakes
❌ Estas casas estais muy bonitas.
Incorrect — the verb form requires the accent: estáis. Without it, the word looks like a plural of the demonstrative estás… which is also nonsense. Both 'estas' (without accent) and 'estáis' (with accent) exist, but only the second is a verb.
✅ Estas casas están muy bonitas.
These houses are very pretty.
❌ No creo que estes bien.
Incorrect — the present subjunctive requires an accent: estés. *Estes is not a Spanish word.
✅ No creo que estés bien.
I don't think you're well.
❌ Ayer estabamos en el cine cuando llegó tu mensaje.
Incorrect — the imperfect first-person plural needs an accent: estábamos.
✅ Ayer estábamos en el cine cuando llegó tu mensaje.
Yesterday we were at the cinema when your message arrived.
❌ Estuvieron en Madrid y estuvieron mucho calor.
Incorrect — *estar mucho calor doesn't exist. Heat with people uses tener (tuvieron mucho calor); weather heat uses hacer (hizo mucho calor).
✅ Estuvieron en Madrid e hizo mucho calor.
They were in Madrid and it was very hot.
❌ Si yo estaba en tu lugar, hablaría con él.
Incorrect — counterfactual conditionals require the imperfect subjunctive (estuviera/estuviese), not the imperfect indicative.
✅ Si yo estuviera en tu lugar, hablaría con él.
If I were in your shoes, I'd talk to him.
Key takeaways
- Estar has a single, transparent stem (est-) across all simple tenses, plus the u-stem estuv- in the preterite and imperfect subjunctive.
- Mandatory accents in the present indicative (estás, está, estáis, están) and present subjunctive (esté, estés, esté, estéis, estén).
- The preterite (estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvisteis, estuvieron) uses no accents — they are not needed because stress falls naturally on the penultimate syllable.
- The vosotros forms (estáis, estabais, estuvisteis, estaríais, estéis, estuvierais, estad) are mandatory in peninsular Spanish.
- The reflexive imperative drops the -d before -os: estaos, not estadosos.
- The future (estará) commonly conveys conjecture: estará durmiendo = "must be sleeping."
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Presente de indicativo: estarA1 — The full peninsular conjugation of estar — estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están — with its core uses for location, state, and progressive.
- Pretérito con raíz en -u-: estar, tener, poder, poner, saberB1 — The strong-preterite family whose stem warps to -u-: estuve, tuve, pude, puse, supe — sharing one set of unaccented endings and producing several of the highest-frequency verbs in spoken Spanish.
- Tildes: cuándo y por quéA2 — The Spanish written accent — the tilde — does three jobs: mark non-default stress, distinguish homophones (el/él, tu/tú, si/sí), and mark interrogative pronouns. Covers the post-2010 RAE reforms that abolished the accent on demonstrative pronouns and on sólo.
- Usos de estarA2 — A complete catalogue of when to use estar — location, emotional and physical states, progressive tenses, resultant states, and idioms.
- Ser vs estar: visión generalA1 — The foundational distinction between Spanish's two 'to be' verbs — what each one is for and how to choose.