Free sample drill · EN → ES · A2-B1

Ser vs estar practice exercises

Spanish has two verbs for to be: ser for what something is, estar for how or where it is — es médica vs. está en casa. This free drill gives you ten example sentences — tap any sentence to reveal the translation and a short note on why it works. No signup. The full GrammarWerk app generates 30 fresh sentences per drill across 386 topics in German, Spanish, English, and French.

Grammar explainer

Ser is used for origin (Soy de México), profession (Es médica), identity and permanent characteristics (La mesa es de madera; El evento es en Madrid). Estar is used for location of people and objects (Estoy en casa), temporary states (Estás cansado), and ongoing actions (estar + gerund). Neither is simply "permanent" vs "temporary" — the distinction is more nuanced than that rule implies.

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