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Spanish (Latin America)

### What You Are vs. What You Are Being

You just met **estar para** for moods and readiness. Its sibling **estar de** + noun answers a different question: not *what are you?* but *what are you doing at the moment?* — a job you are filling in for, a trip you are on, a state you are passing through.

### Working As

With an occupation, **estar de** says someone is *working as* something right now — with no claim that it is their profession:

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Note there is no article after **de**: *está de mesero*, never *está de un mesero*.

### Away and Off

The same frame covers temporary situations — vacations, trips, moods:

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{{item:936240}}

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### Ser vs. Estar de

**Ser** + profession states what someone *is*; **estar de** states what they are *temporarily doing*. Spanish happily puts both in one sentence:

{{item:936243}}

| claim | verb | example |
|---|---|---|
| identity / profession | **ser** | *Es maestro.* |
| temporary role or state | **estar de** | *Está de mesero.* |

Temporary roles (estar de)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

expression

interjection

noun

numeral

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and 'to be' (el, la, soy)

Masculine and feminine pairs (el hermano, la hermana)

Basic sentences and negation (no)

Indefinite articles (un, una)

Formal and informal you (tú vs. usted)

Plural pronouns and the verb to be (somos, son)

Making nouns plural (-s, -es)

Plural articles (los, las, unos, unas)

Noun gender exceptions

Adjective agreement

Invariable adjectives

State and location (estar)

Ser vs. estar

There is / there are (hay)

Hay vs. estar

To have (tener)

Possession (de)

Possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su)

Regular -ar verbs

Yes/No questions

What and who (qué, quién)

Regular -er verbs

Regular -ir verbs

Asking where (dónde, adónde)

How, when, and why (cómo, cuándo, por qué)

How much and how many (cuánto)

Days of the week

Going to a place (ir a)

Preposition contractions (al, del)

In and by (en)

With me and with you (conmigo, contigo)

Prepositional pronouns (mí, ti)

Conjunctions (y, o, pero)

Giving reasons (porque)

Stem-changing verbs (e to ie)

Stem-changing verbs (o to ue)

Stem-changing verbs (e to i)

Irregular yo forms (hago, salgo)

To know (saber vs. conocer)

Weather expressions (hace, está)

Desires and plans (querer)

Ability and requests (poder)

Obligations (tener que)

Expressing likes (me gusta)

Plural likes (me gustan)

Verbs like gustar (encantar, doler)

Very vs. a lot (muy, mucho)

Numbers 0 to 15 (cero, uno, dos…)

Numbers 16 to 31 (dieciséis, veinte…)

Numbers 30 to 1000 (treinta, cien, mil)

Months of the year (enero, febrero, marzo)

Seasons and dates (el dos de mayo)

Telling time (es la..., son las...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primero, segundo, tercero)

Reflexive pronouns and verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las)

The near future (ir a)

The present continuous (estar + -ando, -iendo)

Near demonstrative adjectives (este, esta, estos, estas)

Medium demonstrative adjectives (ese, esa, esos, esas)

Comparatives of inequality (más / menos ... que)

Comparatives of equality (tan ... como)

Indefinite and negative pronouns (algo, nada, alguien, nadie)

Affirmative commands

Far demonstratives (aquel, aquella)

Possessive pronouns (el mío, el tuyo)

Shortened indefinite adjectives (algún, ningún)

Adverbs of quantity (demasiado, bastante)

Adverbs of frequency (a menudo, a veces)

Adverb formation (-mente)

Exclamations (¡Qué...!)

Irregular comparatives (mejor, peor, mayor, menor)

Relative superlatives (el más... de)

Adjective intensification (-ísimo)

Indirect object pronouns

Pronoun placement with infinitives

Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)

The 'se lo' rule (se lo, se la)

Impersonal statements (se)

Impersonal obligation (hay que)

Personal obligation (deber)

Starting actions (empezar a)

Finishing and quitting actions (terminar de, dejar de)

Repeating actions (volver a)

Continuing actions (seguir + gerundio)

Question	Answer
My brother is working as a waiter in a small restaurant.	Mi hermano está de mesero en un restaurante pequeño.
This month, he is filling in as a teacher at the school.	Este mes, él está de maestro en la escuela.
She is on vacation this week.	Ella está de vacaciones esta semana.
My father is away on a trip for work.	Mi padre está de viaje por el trabajo.
My parents are on vacation at the beach.	Mis padres están de vacaciones en la playa.
Why are you in a bad mood?	¿Por qué estás de mal humor?
He is a teacher, but this year he is working as a waiter.	Él es maestro, pero este año está de mesero.

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