The designers of Spanish just couldn't help themselves. They had to make it more complicated for everybody!!
The most common verb in any language is "to be". Right?
So some genius in the year dot decided that en espanol, they should have more than one verb "to be"! And yes, both these verb words have all the essential various conjugations by tense & grammar.
Why? Why indeed?
It's to drive we students of el espanol completely crazy!
What's the difference? Well, I'm still trying to sort that out;
1) "ser" is used for 'permanent conditions' &
2) "estar" is used for 'non-permanent conditions'
Seems straightforward. Not so fast!
A person's religeon is 'permanent' : non-negotiable. Cannot change. Ever.
A person's career is 'non-permanent': a former engineer is not always an engineer, even once they have their degree. They could change their mind!
Being married is 'permanent'. As is being divorced, even if remarried.
However, being 'single' is 'non-permanent', even for an elderly spinster.
Are you seeing a pattern here? I have to learn to think like an ancient Catholic scholar to find some basis for learning when to use which bloody word for what. hahaha!!
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