Adjectives with SER & ESTAR: Spanish grammar (A2)

Some adjectives change their meaning when used with either «ser» or «estar«. Some of these changes can be very dramatic and can create some misunderstandings, so be careful with them. Here you have a list with some of them.

List of Spanish adjectives with SER and ESTAR

Compare both columns of adjectives, as you can see in the English translation, their meaning can change completely depending on if they are used with SER or ESTAR. Also, notice that there is a certain pattern about English adjectives ending in -ing with SER, English adjectives ending -ed with ESTAR. Although we will see this more in detail in a future entry.

SER and ESTAR full conjugation

To produce sentences you just need to form verbs  SER and ESTAR in the different tenses, depending on if you want to express past, present, future or even the subjunctive mood. First, let’s see the verb SER conjugation, and here you have verb ESTAR conjugation.

Enrique ha tenido un accidente y está grave en el hospital (Enrique had an accident and he is seriously ill in the hospital). 

Mi abuela estaba muy orgullosa de nuestra familia (My grandmother was very proud of our family).

La película fue muy aburrida, no me gustó nada (The film was very boring, I didn’t like at all).

Fumar es malo (Smoke is bad).

Espero que estés seguro de lo que dices, es muy grave (I hope you’re sure of what you say, it’s very serious).

Adjectives with SER and ESTAR exercises and practice

Now practice with the fill the blanks activity below and you can also click on the link to learn more about ser vs estar. Remember to contact your tutor with any question have about Spanish grammar or to ask for more homework. Don’t you have a Spanish personal tutor yet?

Please, leave us a message if you want we prepare more activities. You can also do our workshop about the differences between SER and ESTAR to master this topic.