Verb TO BE (Ser)
Present Tense
yo soy nosotros somos
tú eres ustedes son
él/ella es ellos son
Yo soy un estudiante. (I am a student)
yo soy nosotros somos
tú eres ustedes son
él/ella es ellos son
Yo soy un estudiante. (I am a student)
Past Tense
yo fui nosotros fuimos
tú fuiste ustedes fueron
él/ella fue ellos fueron
Yo fui un estudiante el año pasado. (I was a student last year.)
Future Tense
yo seré nosotros seremos
tú serás ustedes serán
él/ella será ellos serán
Yo seré un estudiante universitario el próximo año. (I will be a university student next year.)
Imperfect tense
An simple way to remember how to use this tense is to remember that it basically means: used to. This tense also gives the idea that the state of being or the action has not fully finished as you talk about it. Furthermore, this tense may also be used to show that something happened in the past at the same time that something else was happening.
yo era nosotros éramos
tú eras ustedes eran
él/ella era ellos eran
Yo era un estudiante universitario el año pasado. ( I used to be a university student last year.)
When do we use the verb SER?
yo fui nosotros fuimos
tú fuiste ustedes fueron
él/ella fue ellos fueron
Yo fui un estudiante el año pasado. (I was a student last year.)
Future Tense
yo seré nosotros seremos
tú serás ustedes serán
él/ella será ellos serán
Yo seré un estudiante universitario el próximo año. (I will be a university student next year.)
Imperfect tense
An simple way to remember how to use this tense is to remember that it basically means: used to. This tense also gives the idea that the state of being or the action has not fully finished as you talk about it. Furthermore, this tense may also be used to show that something happened in the past at the same time that something else was happening.
yo era nosotros éramos
tú eras ustedes eran
él/ella era ellos eran
Yo era un estudiante universitario el año pasado. ( I used to be a university student last year.)
When do we use the verb SER?
- to identify a person: Yo soy Carlos. (I am Carlos.)
- to identify an occupation: Yo soy un ingeniero. (I am an engineer.)
- to indicate where someone is from: Yo soy de Argentina. (I am from argentina.)
- to indicate what something is made out of: La silla es de madera. (The chair is made of wood.)
- to indicate possession: El carro es de mi padre. (The car belongs to my father.)
- to indicate when an event takes place: El examen es el lunes en la tarde. (The exam is Monday afternoon.)
- to talk about something impersonal (it): Es bonito. (It is pretty.) Es bello. (It is beautiful.) Es fantástico. (It is fantastic.)
- to talk about physical or character traits. El es inteligente. (He is intelligent.) Ella es alta. (She is tall.)
- to tell time: Son las 2 de la tarde. (It is 2 O'clock.)
- to talk about the day or date: Hoy es lunes. (Today is Monday.) Hoy es 5 de julio. (Today is July 5th.)
- to talk about relationships: El es mi hermano. (He is my brother.) Ella es mi novia. (She is my girlfriend.)