Any Spanish speakers willing to help me out a little?

[yewberry]

Little bit of backstory: I'm finishing my second year of national service (Americorps) and my job during the school year is working in a public school with struggling readers. School's out, though, and so I've been working on other projects. My main project is teaching (free) ELL classes for adults in the community. (I do have a TOEFL cert.)

Anyway, I had an urgent request to begin one-on-one tutoring with a woman from Oaxaca tomorrow. I don't speak Spanish. She's a low beginner, and I'm tryin to prep a lesson that will be rich in vocab and still illustrate conjugations of the verb 'to be.'

Please, help me figure this out.

I am happy--->Soy feliz.
You are happy---->Usted feliz.
He is happy---->Él es feliz.
She is happy--->Ella es feliz.
It is happy---->????
We are happy--->Somos felices.
They are happy--->Son felices.
You (plural) are happy--->???

Is there a direct translation of the ungendered it or plural you form?

Also, can you help me understand this:

I am sad.--->Soy triste.
I am angry.---Estoy enajado.
I am tired.--->Soy cansado.
I am confused.--->Soy confuso.
I am nervous.--->Soy nervioso.
I am scared.--->Estoy asustado.

What is the difference between 'soy' and 'estoy?'

Am I going to crash and burn tomorrow? Can you help me help this woman?

Any help is truly appreciated!

[idgiehkt]

1. plural you is ustedes (you all)

here is some stuff about the difference between ser and estar
http://spanish.about.com/cs/verbs/a/servsestar.htm
When I think of the differences between ser and estar, I like to think of ser as the passive verb and estar as the active one. (I'm not using the terms in a grammatical sense here.) Ser tells you what something is, the nature of its being, while estar refers more to what something does. I might use soy (the first-person present of ser) to tell you what I am, but I'd use estoy (the first-person present of estar) to tell you what I am being.

Now that's probably as clear as a politician's equivocation, but let me give you a few examples. I might say, "Estoy enfermo." That would tell you that I am being sick, that I am sick at the moment. But it doesn't tell you what I am. Now if I were to say, "Soy enfermo," that would have a different meaning entirely. That would refer to who I am, to the nature of my being. We might translate that as "I am a sick person" or "I am sickly."

Note similar differences in these examples:

Estoy cansado, I am tired. Soy cansado, I am a tired person.
Estoy feliz, I'm happy now. Soy feliz, I am happy by nature.
Está callada, she's being quiet. Es callada, she's introverted.
No soy listo, I'm not a quick thinker. Estoy listo, I'm ready.

I don't speak it either, I can translate some words but those are mostly nouns, I keep procrastinating on verb conjugations.

[yewberry]

4. That makes a lot of sense to me.

We use a lot of verbs that way in English. Conditional/progressive vs stative.

So, it sounds like estar is more conditional (as in "I am feeling sad") rather than sort of stative (as in "I am (generally) sad.")

I've been thinking about the ungendered it problem, and I think I'll just have to wing it. Nouns in Spanish are gendered, so talking about a fish (for example) being happy will necessarily have a gendered pronoun, right? Okay, I am just guessing.

Thanks very much for your help. I feel like a have a better handle on why the two verbs are used when they are.

:hi:

[ZombieNixon]

2. OK.

I am happy = (Yo) Estoy feliz
You (sing.) are happy = (Tú) Estás feliz OR Usted es feliz
He is happy = Él está feliz
She is happy = Ella está feliz
It is happy = Está feliz
We are happy = (Nosotros) estamos felices
You (pl.) are happy = Ustedes están felices
They are happy = Ellos/ellas están felices

The difference between "ser" and "estar" is one of degree of permanence. "Ser" is used to describe a condition regarded as permanent, such as nationaly, gender, or physical characteristic. e.g. I am an American = Soy un americano and I am tall = So alto.

"Estar" is regarded as describing a changeable condition. All emotions function with "estar." So, you examples above, should all use "estar."

[idgiehkt]

3. that makes so much more sense than the link I posted, lol.

I didn't quite see the difference between the two even as the guy was describing it (what I am vs. what I am being = :shrug: )

[yewberry]

5. You are my HERO!

Okay, that makes sense.

"Ser" is a stative form (like "I am tall") while "estar" is necessary for describing emotional states. Oooh, you just saved me a lot of head-scratching and embarassment.

Further question: "Ésta feliz."--Is that closer to a pronominal 'it' ("That is my fish. It is happy.") or a weird English 'it' ("It is good.")

Seriously, I can't thank you enough.

I have to write a whole new lesson now. (That's a good thing.)

:Bowingbeforeyou:

[ZombieNixon]

6. You're welcome.

And the answer is "yes." :P It's both. "That is my fish. It is happy." = "Eso es mi pescado. Está feliz." "It is good." = Está buen."

[yewberry]

7. Um, one more?

In your translations, you've included parentheticals:

I am happy = (Yo) Estoy feliz
You (sing.) are happy = (Tú) Estás feliz OR Usted es feliz
We are happy = (Nosotros) estamos felices

Are those parentheticals dropped in casual conversation, or are they dropped altogether? Would anyone actually say "Yo estoy feliz" or "Nosotros estamos felices?"

Again, huge thanks.

[ZombieNixon]

8. They're both grammatical.

If the conjugation makes the meaning unambiguous, then pronouns tend to be dropped. One still might say "Yo estoy feliz" if the wanted to emphasize who it was that was happy (especially when opposed to someone else, e.g "Yo estoy feliz, pero tú estás triste.")

[yewberry]

9. Kick-ass!

I may not know Spanish, but I know grammar.

You've absolutely made this clear. Really, I can't thank you enough.

Tomorrow, with any luck, I won't confuse the heck out of Sarai.

YAAAY!

[BlooInBloo]

10. Unless you want to convey what sort of person you are instrinsically.