📖LearnModule 2 · Lesson 2 of 30Basic User · CEFR A1, completedUnit 1 · El presente — the full present tense
Estar — the whole present
Module 2 of the free Spanish course (CEFR A1, completed), lesson 2 of 30: Estar completes the same way: estoy, estás, está, estamos, están, están. On this page: 10 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
estar
to be (where/how)
ehs-TAR
yo estoy
I am (somewhere / feeling)
yoh ehs-TOY
tú estás
you are (somewhere / feeling)
too ehs-TAHS
nosotros estamos
we are (somewhere / feeling)
noh-SOH-trohs ehs-TAH-mohs
ellos están
they are (somewhere / feeling)
EH-yohs ehs-TAHN
yo estoy cansado
I am tired
yoh ehs-TOY kahn-SAH-doh
cansado
tired (m)
kahn-SAH-doh
cansada
tired (f)
kahn-SAH-dah
nosotros estamos en casa
we are at home
noh-SOH-trohs ehs-TAH-mohs ehn KAH-sah
en casa
at home
ehn KAH-sah
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Estar completes the same way: estoy, estás, está, estamos, están, están. Four of the six carry an accent mark — estás, está, están — and the accent tells you where the voice lands.
Y también · And also
Ser says what something IS; estar says where it is and how it is right now. Soy alto (I am tall, always) but estoy cansado (I am tired, today). Both are "to be", and Spanish keeps them apart every time.
Ojo · Watch out
estar for where and how you are right now: estoy en casa, estoy cansado. ser for what you are: soy alto. The two never swap.
estar, presente — the table
yo estoy · tú estás · él/ella/usted está · nosotros estamos · ustedes están · ellos/ellas están
Do it now — on paper
Say all 10 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with estar.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out estar, presente in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.