James K. Gavin
The person learning to speak Spanish is running an obstacle
course. The same errors, problems and linguistic traps are laid
out before every student at predictable stages of the learning
process. Young or old, linguistically adept or steady plodder,
every student of Spanish must get over a series of obstacles that
are set out in path almost as precisely as the barriers in the 800
meter high hurdles foot race. This book intends to help clear
those hurdles.
The nuts and bolts of Spanish grammar have been dealt with
quite well in any number of books. There is no need for another
presentation of all this basic material. The emphasis of this book
is on helping the student to get past the big barriers that block his
way. It contains eighteen essays that deal with everything from
attitude and the accent mark to the subjunctive and verb phobia.
The purpose of this book is to help you to learn to speak Spanish
by correlating the practical knowledge acquired by one who
learned Spanish on the streets of South and Central America with
those elements of grammar that he found most useful as he
struggled toward linguistic proficiency. The intent of this book
is to combine our innate linguistic common sense and academic
Spanish, the latter as handmaiden to the former.
James Gavin started learning Spanish as a Peace Corps volunteer
in Venezuela. Since then, pursuing parallel careers as an artist
and Spanish-speaker-for-hire (teacher, translator, interpreter,
language evaluator and advisor) he has lived in Puerto Rico,
Nueva York, and Costa Rica. He has also worked and traveled
extensively in Spain, Mexico, Honduras, Panama and the
Dominican Republic. He now lives, happily surrounded by
Spanish-speakers, in northern New Mexico.
The linguistic insights accumulated during his forty years of
diverse experiences as a learner, speaker and teacher of Spanish
are gathered together in Gramatica Apasionada. This is a
philosophical grammar book, a grammar con alma.
A funny thing happened to the Latin verb esse (to be) on its way
to becoming the Spanish verb ser. It got mugged by its fellow
Latin verb sedere (to sit).
The results of this 'verbal assault' are still being felt across the
millennia. These consequences have particularly complicated
life for twentieth century speakers of English who wish to learn
Spanish. Even if one has only a sketchy knowledge of Ancient
History it is obvious that blame for the resulting linguistic
difficulties must be placed in the blood-stained hands of Brutus.
For without the authoritative leadership of Julius Caesar your
everyday Roman-in-the-street began getting sloppy about his
personal speech habits. The beautifully crafted and rational
Latin of classical times started becoming rather – how else can I
say it? – vulgar.
In this specific case here's what happened. Instead of using esse,
people began to use the verb sedere to locate things They might
have said, for example, "the goblet sits on the table," instead of
saying, "the goblet is on the table." This is a seemingly
innocuous substitution. But centuries later it would still be
causing confusion and consternation across the breadth of a
distant continent, from Connecticut to California.
As this usage became commonplace it precipitated a more
general breakdown of the boundaries between the two verbs.
Perhaps one might then have said for example, "the centurion
sits ill," instead of, "the centurion is ill." In any case, esse and
sedere were getting their wires seriously crossed. This
encroachment upon its territory should have alarmed esse but it
was in the middle of multiple identity crises (on its way to
becoming ser, essere in Italian, etc.) and paid no attention.
Sedere, meanwhile, which was by nature quite sedentary, got a
lot of unaccustomed exercise during its raids on esse's territory
and slimmed down to estar.
This process went on for many years. The result was that
eventually Spanish (though not its French cousin) ended up with
two verbs meaning 'to be.' This has proven to be a most
vexatious problem for students of Spanish as a second language.
So, listen up, Mr. Shakespeare, "to be or not to be" is not the
question. To be (ser) or to be (estar), that is the question!
These two verbs (ser and estar) that translate 'to be' are not
interchangeable, nor is their use haphazard. They serve distinct
purposes. English speakers may initially be confused by this, but
turn the case around and look at it from the other side. The
Spanish verb esperar translates 'to wait,' 'to hope,' and 'to
expect.' When the English-speaking student of Spanish learns
this he or she frequently responds, "But those are such different
things, how can they be lumped together into one verb?" And
because English has created three separate compartments, i.e.
verbs, we do see them as distinct activities. But give this a little
thought. These are three very inter-related
activities. Hoping and expecting both involve waiting, the
difference being in the mental outlook of the 'waiter.' Spanish
ignores this distinction and calls both kinds of waiting 'waiting.'
Likewise, when the Spanish-speaker who wants to learn English
discovers that we have only one verb for ser and estar he might
just as fairly ask, "But there are so many different kinds of being,
how can you lump them all together into one verb?"
What Will Be 'Be' Will Be 'Be'
In order to get a sense of the different kinds of being expressed
by ser and estar it might be helpful to list the nouns that share
their root or stem with ser and some of the nouns that have a
common root with estar.
There are only two common nouns in Spanish that come from
the same root as ser. One is esencia or 'essence' – this is more
obvious when you remember that ser comes from the Latin esse –
and the other is ser itself. When used as a noun ser means
'being,' as in ser humano, 'human being.' So the verb ser relates
to essence and being or existence.
There are a number of nouns related to estar. Here are four:
estado, estación, estancia, and bienestar.
Estado means 'state.' It can be either a geographical state like el
Estado de Nuevo México or un estado emocional o físico, 'an
emotional or physical state or condition.' Estación is 'station'
(among other things) as in train station, a place to get the train.
Estancia means 'stay,' as in 'being there,' e.g. we had a pleasant
stay in Madrid. (In the Americas an estancia may also be a cattle
ranch). Bienestar is 'welfare' which refers to one's condition.
The verb estar has to do with place or location and condition.
Many students who have come to me with a limited exposure to
Spanish, perhaps a year or two in high school or college, have
arrived at my door with the firmly imbedded belief that ser is for
permanent things and estar is for the temporary. So let's deal
with that misconception right now.
First, as a rule of thumb for making necessarily quick choices
when you are out on the street actually speaking Spanish, this
permanent/temporary guideline will make you right far more
often than wrong. But it totally misses the point of ser and estar.
Ser and estar are about two kinds of being, essence and
condition. The essence of something may be temporary and a
condition can be quite permanent.
Question: how do say, "He is young," in Spanish? Perhaps you,
dear reader, know, as I do, that youth is a fleeting thing. It is
temporary. So do we use estar? No. Age is one of the most
essential characteristics of a person. El es joven. Age, the
difference between being five, fifteen, and fifty years old,
defines the essence of a person as much as being male or female,
kind or cruel.
