If you are in Year 1 of an Italian language-focused high school (liceo linguistico) and Spanish is your second or third language, at the end of September you have only just started: regular and irregular present, gustar, posesivos — and above all ser, estar, hay, the first real stumbling block of the syllabus. The first written test that puts them to the test usually arrives between late October and mid-November, so you have five to eight weeks to fix them properly, not to learn them at the last minute.
The reason people get them wrong so often is simple: in Italian “essere” (to be) does everything by itself, and “c’è / ci sono” (there is / there are) is a separate verb. In Spanish that work is split between three different forms, and the Italian mind keeps looking for a single verb where there isn’t one.
Why Italian misleads you
“Essere” covers identity (“sono italiana”, I am Italian), position (“sono a casa”, I am at home), state (“sono stanca”, I am tired) and, in certain sentences, existence (“c’è un problema”, there is a problem). Spanish does not make this merger: ser does identity and permanent characteristics, estar does position and temporary states, hay does existence. They are three different verbs with three different jobs, and the first typical mistake is translating word for word from Italian instead of asking what job that “è” or that “c’è” is doing in the sentence.
Ser: the present tense
An irregular verb, to be learned by heart:
| ser | |
|---|---|
| yo | soy |
| tú | eres |
| él/ella/usted | es |
| nosotros/as | somos |
| vosotros/as | sois |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | son |
Ser is used for:
- identity and origin: Soy Marta. / Soy de Madrid.
- profession: Mi padre es médico.
- permanent characteristics: Ella es alta. / El libro es interesante.
- time and date: Son las cinco. / Hoy es lunes.
- material: La mesa es de madera.
Estar: the present tense
Estar is irregular too:
| estar | |
|---|---|
| yo | estoy |
| tú | estás |
| él/ella/usted | está |
| nosotros/as | estamos |
| vosotros/as | estáis |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | están |
Estar is used for:
- position, place: El libro está en la mesa. / Madrid está en España.
- temporary states: Estoy cansada. / La sopa está fría.
- the result of an action: La puerta está abierta. (someone has opened it)
- the mood of the moment: Está contento hoy.
Hay: when it is neither ser nor estar
Hay is an invariable form of the verb haber, used only for existence. It does not change with the person, it is always hay, singular or plural:
- Hay un banco en la plaza. (existence: indefinite article)
- Hay tres estudiantes en la clase.
- No hay leche.
The difference from estar is the one that causes the most trouble: hay introduces something non-specific (indefinite article, a number, no article), estar places something already known (definite article, proper name, possessive):
Hay un banco en la plaza. — El banco está en la plaza.
In the first sentence you are saying that a bench (any bench) exists in the square. In the second you are saying where that specific bench is, which you have already mentioned or which is obvious. The same construction with proper names: Madrid está en España (never hay Madrid), because a proper name is specific by definition.
Adjectives that change meaning with ser or estar
Here it is not a matter of rule but of meaning: some adjectives say one thing with ser and another with estar.
- ser listo = to be clever / estar listo = to be ready
- ser aburrido = to be boring (a person or a thing) / estar aburrido = to be bored
- ser malo = to be bad, in character / estar malo = to be unwell, to be ill (or: to have gone off, for food)
- ser rico = to be rich / estar rico = to taste good
- ser verde = to be green in colour / estar verde = to be unripe, immature (fruit, but also figuratively)
There is no shortcut for these: they have to be learned as pairs, because the meaning changes completely and the general identity/state rule has nothing to do with it.
The typical mistake: ser / estar / hay
The critical point that recurs most in class is exactly this trio. The most common mistakes of Italian speakers:
- Using estar for profession or time because it “seems a state”:
Estoy médico→ Soy médico. - Using ser for position because in Italian “essere” covers that too:
El libro es en la mesa→ El libro está en la mesa. - Using estar instead of hay for general existence:
En la ciudad está un museo→ En la ciudad hay un museo. - Using hay with a definite article or a proper name:
Hay el banco en la plaza→ El banco está en la plaza.
The safest way not to fall into these mistakes is to ask yourself the right question before writing: am I talking about what/who something is (ser), where something I already know is or how it is (estar), or am I saying that something exists without specifying it (hay)?
Three worked exercises
Exercise 1 — complete with ser, estar or hay (present):
a) Mi hermana ___ profesora. b) La farmacia ___ cerca del colegio. c) ___ dos farmacias en mi barrio. d) ¿Cómo ___ (tú) hoy? e) Barcelona ___ en Cataluña.
Solutions: a) es — profession → ser. b) está — position of a specific, already known place (la farmacia, definite article) → estar. c) hay — general existence, with a number → hay. d) estás — state of the moment (how you are today) → estar. e) está — position of a proper name → estar (never hay with a proper name).
Exercise 2 — translate from Italian, then compare:
a) “C’è un parco vicino a casa mia.” (There is a park near my house.) → Hay un parque cerca de mi casa. (existence, indefinite article)
b) “Il parco è dietro la scuola.” (The park is behind the school.) → El parque está detrás del colegio. (position of something already specific: el parque)
c) “Sono le tre del pomeriggio.” (It is three in the afternoon.) → Son las tres de la tarde. (time → always ser)
d) “Siamo stanchi.” (We are tired.) → Estamos cansados. (temporary state → estar)
The most frequent mistake in this exercise is to translate (a) with estar because in Italian you use the same “c’è” as you would for (b): the difference in Spanish lies entirely in the article, indefinite in the first sentence, definite in the second.
Exercise 3 — choose hay or está/están:
a) En mi mochila ___ un libro y dos cuadernos. b) El libro de matemáticas ___ en mi mochila. c) ¿Dónde ___ el profesor? d) En la clase ___ veinticinco alumnos.
Solutions: a) hay — existence, without specifying which book. b) está — position of a specific object (el libro de matemáticas). c) está — “where is” always asks for the position of something already known → estar, never hay. d) hay — existence with a number.
Another point that causes confusion: ser/estar with participles
There is a case that often comes up precisely when you practise sentences with “open”, “closed”, “broken”: the difference between the passive voice with ser and the result with estar.
- La puerta fue abierta por el portero. — passive voice, with ser: someone performed the action of opening, and here the action itself is narrated (who opened it, when).
- La puerta está abierta. — resulting state, with estar: you don’t care who opened it or when, you are just describing how the door is now.
At Year 1 level it is enough to recognise the second construction (estar + participle as an adjective of state: está cerrado, está roto, está terminado), which is the one that recurs most in the early tests. The passive voice with ser + participle you will meet systematically later in the syllabus.
A practical trick for getting it right on the spot
When you face a sentence with “is” or “there is” and you don’t know which of the three to use, try in this order:
- Can you replace it with “exists” without changing the meaning? If so, it is hay. (“There is a problem” → “a problem exists” → hay un problema.)
- Are you answering the question “where is” something already known? If so, it is estar. (“Where is the book?” “It’s on the table” → está sobre la mesa.)
- In all other cases — who/what something is, what characteristic it has, what time it is — it is ser.
This order works because hay and estar are the two most often confused with each other (both can seem like “existence/position”), while ser can usually already be told apart from the context (identity, profession, time).
Frequently asked questions
Can ser and estar ever have the same subject with compatible meanings? Yes, and it is not a mistake: Es guapa (she is beautiful, a characteristic) and Está guapa (she looks good/is looking great today, in that outfit) can refer to the same person at different moments. They don’t contradict each other, they describe different things.
Can hay be used in the past or future? Yes: había (there was/were, imperfect), hubo (there was, preterite), habrá (there will be). It always stays invariable with regard to number: había un coche and había tres coches use the same form.
Is there a simulator for practising Spanish or the languages of the first two years? No, there is not yet a practice test dedicated to languages for the first two years: the school practice tests that exist, for now in maths and physics, are on the school practice tests page.
For the following year, the verb tense that creates the most confusion is described in the post on the pretérito indefinido and imperfecto. If you also study German you will find the German cases, and if you study French the passé composé and imparfait.
If after doing these exercises you still have doubts about when to use one or the other, you will find the overall picture on English and languages, and if you want concrete help before the test you can start with a free 30-minute introductory call.
