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When to Use Ser

ser vs estar portuguese

We know, we know… No matter how essential they are, serto be (permanent) and estarto be (temporary) are two difficult verbs. If the simplified distinction in the previous lesson wasn’t enough for you, you’re in luck. In this lesson, we’ll have a more detailed look at how and when to use ser, with plenty of examples to guide you. Later on in this unit, we’ll also cover when to use estar.

👩‍🦳 Names

We use ser to introduce ourselves to others.
O meu nome é Daniela.My name is Daniela.

☎️ Addresses and Telephone Numbers

O endereço dele é Rua Afonso Henriques, nº 20.His address is Rua Afonso Henriques, no. 20.
O número deles é o 276 123 456.Their number is 276 123 456.

🇵🇹 Countries and Nationalities

We use ser to express where we are from.
Ela é da Holanda.She is from the Netherlands.
Ele é samoano.He is Samoan.

🗓 Days of the Week

Hoje é sexta-feira.Today is Friday.

🏠 Expressing Ownership

Esta é a casa deles.This is their house.

👈🏽 Identifying Things

Isto é uma mesa.This is a table.

🏗 Identifying Substances or Materials

Ser is used along with de when discussing what material or substance something is made of.
A mesa é de madeira.The table is wooden.

🍋 Flavours

Ser is used to talk about the flavours of food or its ingredients.
Este bolo é de limão.This is a lemon cake.
Estes rissóis são de camarão.These are shrimp rissoles.

🎨 Colours

O caderno é azul.The notebook is blue.

⏰ Time of Day

If you need to tell the time, ser is your go-to verb.
São duas horas.It is two o’clock.
É meia-noite.It is midnight.

👩🏽‍🏫 Jobs

Elas são professoras.They are teachers.

🛠 Determining Something’s Purpose

Ser helps us describe what something is used for.
A pá é para escavar.The shovel is for digging.

↔ Directions

Ser is used to describe where something (unmovable) is located.
O estádio é ali.The stadium is over there.

🧠 Physical and Psychological Traits

Ser is used to describe someone’s general temperament or traits. These are the long-standing traits that define someone, not related to temporary emotions or actions.
Nós somos simpáticos.We are nice.

☸️ Conveying Affiliations

If you need to talk about a group or entity someone belongs to, you’ll use ser.
Vocês são escuteiros.You are scouts.
Tu és budista.You are a Buddhist.
And there we go! There are a few other ways of using ser, of course, but these are the most common contexts that should help get you started. Remember: Ser is usually used for permanent conditions, traits, or things.

Comments

  • Discordo por várias razões. Primeiro, é bom ter uma lição fácil depois de uma muito difícil. Além disso, todas as aulas não podem estar no início. Finalmente, é bom aprender as regras depois de ver verbos usados anteriormente.

  • I appreciate passing on these rules-of-thumb here. My experience though with learning new languages is that 90% of the effort appears to be raw memorization. Sure, it’s easy to remember that “o pilot” means pilot, but there nothing intuitive about esquecer (to forget) or prequiçoso (lazy). With ser and estar, some cases will likely be easy to remember while others will likely be very counterintuitive and therefore not easy to remember. I’ll try to commit the rules presented here for ser to memory and hopefully that will take me a good ways to mastering this pesky verb.

  • Thanks, Joseph. A Brazilian had told me differently so it is good to know that both words are widely used in Portugal. I am thoroughly enjoying the course, especially the dialogues as that is where I definitely need practice.

    • Olá, Carol! It depends on whether the hour itself is singular or plural. Two (duas) is plural, so we use são. Midnight (meia-noite), noon (meio-dia) and one (uma) are all singular, so we use é.

  • Hoje é Sexta-feira. When I listen to the slow pronounciation the e of hoje is spoken, but in the faster pronounciation it definitely is not. Is this a general rule that only one “e” is pronounced when é is following a word ending in “e”?

    • It’s not really a rule per se, but it is very common for Portuguese words to lose the final vowel when speaking a regular/fast pace (same with the letter e at the beginning of words). You might like this video: Mystery of the Disappearing Sounds

      It’s basically just the result of speaking at a faster pace — the vowels sort of blend into each other.

  • Interesting that in case of location of a hospital or school (unmoveable) in Spanish the verb ser is used and not estar. Here Portuguese is different and in my opinion more rational.

  • If ‘ser’ is used for time of the day and days of the week, I expect it is also used to indicate the months of the year, is that correct?

  • Great lesson, thanks! Since we’re using “ser” for days of the week, are we also using “ser” for expressing dates?

  • Joseph, I really appreciate how you explain things to people when they need clarification. I like to read the comments and questions after the lessons simply because I know there will be some explanations that I will want to read.

  • I am enjoying Practice Portuguese and its many very well thought out options and features. Thanks for the extra notes on Ser and Estar.

  • Hi! What is the difference between the use of Esta and Isto in the identifying things example? (Both mean ‘this’) Thanks!

    • “Esta” and “Isto” both translate to “this” in English, but they are used in different contexts. “Esta” is a demonstrative pronoun that agrees with feminine singular nouns, while “Isto” is a neutral demonstrative pronoun that doesn’t change according to gender or number.
      You would use “Esta” when referring to a specific feminine noun, for example, “Esta caneta” (This pen). “Isto” is used when the gender is not defined or when referring to a situation or idea, for example, “Isto é importante” (This is important).

      • Thanks so much for the quick response! That makes a lot of sense. I couldn’t figure out the ‘rule’ on my own. 🙂 Thanks also for creating this site and making learning Portuguese so much fun. I’m retired in my mid 60’s and have purchased a condo in Portugal to escape some of our cold Canadian weather. I have been studying Portuguese with your site for about 3 months. When I left on the airplane and was watching the safety video, I understood ‘zero’ Portuguese, even though it was spelled out in subtitles. When I returned home 1.5 months later, I understood about 25% of what they were saying. I’m impressed!

        • Thank you for sharing your experience! It’s fantastic to hear that you’ve made such great progress in such a short time. Your dedication to learning is truly impressive, and we’re thrilled that our platform has been a part of your journey.
          Remember, language learning is a gradual process, and it sounds like you’re on the right track. 🙂

  • Thanks for giving the pronunciation with the examples! In the example “Esta é a casa deles”, the “e” in “esta” is clearly pronounced. In a phrase like “Estou com fome”, normally the “e” is not pronounced. Is this because the words are different, grammatically?

    • Olá! Vowel pronunciation changes a lot from word to word for different reasons, which include being on a stressed vs. unstressed syllable, grammatical classification and etymology (usually the main factor). The E of “esta” is stressed, while the E of “estou” is unstressed. The E of “este” (this) is medium, while the E of “este” (east) is fully open. And so on… 🙂 Memorization is the best way to navigate all of this, as it’s very difficult to condense this topic into easily applicable and consistent rules.

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