The verb is considered to be the most important part of speech in any language. In Spanish, as in Russian, all verbs are conjugated according to persons. Also, do not forget about tenses and inclinations. All of this makes learning Spanish somewhat difficult for beginners. In this article, we will give examples of the ser conjugation in Spanish, focusing on the indicative mood.
Ser and its difference from estar
Before looking at the conjugation of the Spanish verb ser, let's look at when it is used and how it is translated into Russian. Ser means "to be". For example, ser hombre - "to be a man", ser alto - "to be tall". In other words, ser expresses a constant and unchanging characteristic of an object or thing.
In Russian, this verb is omitted in many sentences. For example, soy maestro - "I (are) a teacher", eres alumno - "you (are) a student".
Beginnersto learn the Castilian dialect, the verbs ser and estar are often confused. The latter translates as "to be, to be." The most important difference between estar and ser is that it shows the current state of the object, that is, one that is currently saved and may change after some time. For example, estoy enfermo - "I am sick", estás triste - "you are sad", that is, after a while I can recover, and you will be happier. Note that you can also say eres triste, then this phrase will mean that you are always sad, in life, because of your character and temperament.
Next, we will give examples of the conjugation of the verb ser in Spanish for simple present, past and future tenses in the indicative mood. This mood in the language expresses ordinary actions, thoughts, events.
Present Simple
The conjugation ser in Spanish for this tense is most commonly used in practice. The following is a list that shows all forms of the verb for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular and plural:
I'm yo soy;
you are tú eres;
he, she - él, ella es;
we are nosotros somos;
you are vosotros sois;
they are ellos, ellas son.
The verb ser is irregular, so these and the forms given later in the article for all persons and numbers must be remembered. Here are some more examples:
- soy ingeniero y eres obrero - "I am an engineer and you are a worker";
- es muy grande,pero nosotros somos pequeños - "he is very big, and we are small";
- ser o no ser, ésa es la cuestión - "to be or not to be, that is the question" (famous phrase from Shakespeare's work).
Note that the verb under study is not conjugated by gender, although the pronouns themselves change, for example, nosotros somos (masculine) and nosotras somos (feminine).
Perfect and imperfect past tenses
These times reflect events that have already happened before. Perfect answers the question "What did you do?" and describes any action that began and ended in the past, while it lasted one instant. The imperfect tense describes events that also ended in the past, but they also lasted for a significant time period. The imperfect answers the question "What did you do?".
The conjugation of ser in Spanish for the perfect tense is as follows:
I am yo fui;
you are tú fuiste;
he, she - él, ella fue;
we are nosotros fuimos;
you are vosotros fuisteis;
they are ellos, ellas fueron.
For the imperfect past simple we have the following conjugation table:
I am yo era;
you are tú eras;
he, she - él, ella era;
we are nosotros éramos;
you are vosotros erais;
they are ellos, ellas eran.
Note, if for the perfect conjugation tense for the first and third person singularnumbers differ (fui and fue), then for the imperfect they are the same (era).
Spanish sentences are examples of these conjugations:
- ella fue al museo y tú fuiste al cine - "she went to the museum and you went to the movies";
- eras muy penoso y aburrido ayer - "yesterday you were very sickly and boring".
Future tenses
Below we give conjugations of the verb ser for two future tenses - simple and conditional. The simple future reflects an action that will or will happen, such as "I will go on holiday to Thailand" or "he will build himself a house". The conditional future also reflects an action that will happen, but at the same time it expresses some condition. For example: "I would like to fly to Thailand if I get paid double the bonus for my work", "he would build himself a house, but in the next two years he will not have the opportunity to do so."
Conjugations of the verb ser for the future simple are as follows:
I'm yo seré;
you are tú serás;
he, she - él, ella será;
we are nosotros seremos;
you are vosotros seréis;
they are ellos, ellas serán.
Please note that the pronunciation of verbs should take into account the stresses set. Otherwise, the verb may change meaning and begin to express the subjunctive rather than the indicative mood.
For the future conditional, the following table of conjugations can be given:
I am yo sería;
you are túserias;
he, she - él, ella sería;
we are nosotros seríamos;
you are vosotros seríais;
they are ellos, ellas serían.
Here, as in the case of the past imperfect, we see a difference in the forms of ser conjugations in Spanish for the first and third person singular.
As an example of the use of these forms of conjugations, here are the following sentences:
- cuando creceré, seré gran hombre - "When I grow up, I will be a big man";
- será mejor, si sabrás algo del asunto - "It will be better if you know something about this case";
- sería perfecto si él me telefoneará - "it would be great if he called me";
- seríamos soldados si nos llamaban a filas - "we would be soldiers if we were drafted into the armed forces".
We hope our little digression will help you understand the intricacies of the Spanish language.
