To Be (part 4) [14]
Let’s wrap this part up. I’m going to give you a little piece of context and then show you something new. Here’s the context: You can now ask and answer four major questions.
How are you? ¿Cómo estás?
Where are you? ¿Dónde estás?
What are you like? ¿Cómo eres?
Where are you from? ¿De dónde eres?
These are limited in one-on-one direct conversation, but they are pretty unlimited in the third person (conversations that are not about the speaker, or the listener). Instead of asking ¿cómo eres?, you will find your self asking ¿cómo es? and ¿cómo son? (What is it like? and What are they like?) much more often.
For example:
¿Cómo son los colombianos? (What are Colombians like?)
¿Cómo es tu nuevo carro? (What’s your new car like?)
Sometimes you can answer those questions above like a book, stating facts. Other times, you just want to give your opinion. That’s the new bit: giving your opinion. When you want to say something is cool, for example, do you use Ser or Estar? It depends on the certainty of your assertion. Most people give their opinion of something with estar:
La película está buena. The movie is good. (Think of something like “The Avengers.”)
El show* está pésimo. The show is terrible.
La camisa está chévere. The shirt is cool.
This is because your opinion is an impression, and impressions are not necessarily permanent, nor accurate. However, if you think your opinion is closer to fact, you can use ser. This is like when people discuss a masterpiece, or something everyone loves, the ‘opinion’ is stated like a fact, like a piece of essential identity.
La película es buena. The movie is good. (Think of something like “Citizen Kane.”)
El show es pésimo. The show is terrible.
La camisa es chévere. The shirt is cool.
When you use Ser in this way, you are leaving no room for disagreement.
A word of caution: when discussing food, especially food that you are eating, you should always use estar. If you are eating a chocolate bar, even if you are practically ascending into heaven, you should still say el chocolate está rico. If you were to say el chocolate es rico, you would be referring to all chocolate—furthermore, you’re stating a fact. In English we do this with different words, but it’s this difference:
El chocolate está tan rico = This chocolate is so good.
El chocolate es tan rico = (All) Chocolate is so good.
We’re about 90% done with Ser and Estar.
*I used the word show because most Spanish speakers use this word. The “proper” word would be programa.
