The Spanish Verb Ser Explained

In Spanish, there are few irregular Spanish verbs that carry the same importance as the verb ser; estar, also meaning ‘to be‘, tener and haber both meaning ‘to have’, although haber is used mainly as an auxiliary verb in the Perfect tenses, are probably the three verbs that come closest in importance.

However, it really is irrelevant which verb an individual may believe carries the most importance it is with the use and conjugation of the Spanish verb ser that most students start which therefore underlines it’s importance!

Ser is a hard verb with which to start learning because it has a lot of irregular forms in the majority of it’s tenses, prior to looking at these irregularities it would be a good idea to know when ser is used.

In English the verb ‘to be’ has always been taken for granted as most of us learned how to conjugate it so early in our development that many of us probably cannot remember ever doing so, however, unlike English, Spanish verb conjugation is never easy and Spanish has two verbs that both mean ‘to be’, and they are ser and estar as mentioned previously, each of these verbs is used at different times; although here we shall only concentrate on Ser.

When to Use the Spanish Verb Ser

Identity: Es Juan – He is Juan
Possession: La casa es de Carlos – The house is Carlos’s
Origin: Mi familia son de Madrid – My Family are from Madrid
Nationality: Soy inglés – I am English
Occupation: El padre de Melanie es arquitecto – Melanie’s father is an architect
Material of which an object is constructed of: El reloj es de oro – The watch is made of gold
Inherent Characteristics: Ramon es muy alto – Ramon is very tall
Expressions of time: Son las siete – It is seven o’clock, Mañana es domingo – Tomorrow is Sunday
Impersonal Expressions: Es mejor esperar – It is better to wait, Es difícil contestar – It is difficult to answer