Ser ou não ser?

One of the first questions I hear, specially from beginners, is "What's the difference between ser and estar?“. 
Well, in English, we only have "to be" and we understand what's said with other words that are added to the sentence like characteristics, description, jobs, places etc. Well, in Portuguese, is quite simple, but you have to "think in Portuguese" in order to make sense. So, Let's see:


SER = Permanent We use ser, and all its possible conjugations, to talk about permanent things and situations. Real things, something real, unchangeable.


ESTAR = Temporary (conditions, mood, location, weather) We use estar, and all its possible conjugations, to talk about temporary things and situations that have recently changed or that could soon change - locations, places, mood, social status. Regarding weather, we have to be careful, because the verb estar is not the only possible way, but then we'll see it in another post.

• Eu sou mulher. (I am a woman.)
• Ele é rico? (Is he rich?)
• Ela é casada. (She's married.)
• Somos brasileiros. (We're Brazilian.)

These are things that won’t change.

• Eu estou cansado. (I'm tired.)
• Estamos atrasados (We're late.)
• Eles estão no Japão. (They're in Japan.)
• Ela está na aula. (She's in class.)
• Está quente hoje. (It's hot today)

These are not permanent things, they can change or have changed. Now, think about it:

• Eu sou feliz. X Eu estou feliz.
• Ela é casada. X Ela está casada.

What's the diference?

Because estar means something temporary, "Eu estou feliz." is now, because something happened and it made me happy, whereas "Eu sou feliz" is a general characteristic about myself. Like, I'm happy now, or I consider myself a happy person. And the second set of sentence "Ela é casada" is her marital status, but when I say: "Ela está casada" I focus on the fact that now she's gotten married. It's a new situation, it has changed recently.

Let's see if you understood

1) Hoje eu ____________ feliz.

2) Ela ___________solteira. Terminaram o casamento há dois meses.

3) Ele ganhou na loteria mês passado e agora ________ rico.

4) Eu _______ magra. Peso 50 kilos.

5) Eu __________ magra, fiz uma dieta e perdi 20 kilos.

Até a próxima!