Romance copula Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The copula or copulae (the verb or verbs meaning "to be") in all Romance languages derive from the Latin verbs SVM and STO. The former was the copular verb "to be", and the latter mainly meant "to stand", and was sometimes translatable as "to be". When Latin developed into the Romance languages, the use of STO expanded, and encroached on SVM's territory. This article deals with the exact distinction between the two verbs in the languages in which they exist.See Copula for information on other languages, including English.
Nota bene:
- We have followed the usual practice of quoting Latin verbs in the first person singular of the present indicative. In other words, SVM is literally "I am", rather than "to be". The infinitives are ESSE and STARE.
- Although it is normal to use lower case when writing Latin in modern times, this article, dealing as it does with etymology, presents Latin in the capital letters used by the Romans. Nor have we used modern innovations such as U, J, ligatures, macrons or breves.
In English, it is possible to say "there stands..." instead of "there is..." in certain contexts. In Latin too, it became common to eschew SVM in favour of STO and say where things "stood" instead of where they "were". With time, it became common to use this verb to express other states.
''See also Spanish language and Spanish grammar.
The Spanish copulae developed as follows:
As the centuries went by, estar spread in use. Today, ser is used to express the fundamental nature or characteristics of something — what it really is, whilst estar expresses the state something happens to be in. Indeed, ser is etymologically related to "essence" and "is", and estar with "state", "status", "standing", "stance" and "stay".
The verb quedar ("to remain", "to be as a result") is often used in a similar way to estar.Evolution of meaning
In Castilian/Spanish
If we look back to the early part of the second millennium, in texts such as the Cantar de Mio Cid, ser was still used mostly as in Latin, and there was little place for estar; we can see sentences like Es pagado, e davos su amor, "He is satisfied, and he gives you his favour", where modern Spanish would have something like Queda contento, or Está satisfecho, y le da a usted su favor.
| adjective | with estar | with ser |
|---|---|---|
| aburrido | "bored" | "boring" |
| bueno | "tasty" | "good" |
| cachondo | "aroused" | "sexy" |
| cansado | "tired" | "tiring/tiresome" |
| listo | "ready" | "clever" |
| rico | "delicious" | "rich" |
| seguro | "sure/certain" | "safe" |
Estar is almost always used with adjectives that derive from past participles of verbs since the use of ser would sound like a verb in the passive voice. Such adjectives in any case generally refer to states:
A person who is fundamentally happy in life is said to ser feliz; indeed la felicidad is that "happiness" that humans strive for. Although in the harsh real world this happiness often turns out to be a transitory state, a person may nevertheless declare soy feliz as a statement of optimism that goes beyond the description of today's mood that is expressed by any phrase with estar. As for such moods, they can be expressed with estar feliz, but this adjective is not really the appropriate one; estar contento is the better way of saying that one is at the present time feeling happy, content or glad.
When not a state but a change of state is referred to, the expression is quedar contento or alegrarse: quedó muy contenta cuando le dije que había ganado = "she was very glad when I told her she had won"; me alegro de que hayáis llegado = "I'm glad you've all come".
In the extract from the Cantar de Mio Cid above, one can see that "to be happy" a thousand years ago was ser pagado.
The Catalan copulae developed as follows:
The distinction between the two copulae is very similar to the distinction in Spanish, with the following exceptions, amongst others:
Old French had estre (ESSE → essere → *essre → estre) and ester (STARE → *estare → estar → ester), and distinguished between then in a similar way to other Romance languages. With phonetic evolution, the forms of each verb tended to be confused with one another, with the result that estre finally absorbed ester, and the s was lost. The modern form of the verb is être. One trace of ester is the past participle: instead of the *étu one would expect, we find été — just what we would expect from ester/éter.
The English verb "to stay" is directly from ester.
The Italian copulae did not undergo the same development as in other languages, and conserve the Vulgar Latin forms essere and stare.
Essere is the main copula. It is used for almost all cases in which English uses "to be". It therefore makes sense to concentrate on the few uses of stare.
Similar to Spanish. Ficar is often used for location.
A fi is the copula in Romanian.
Esser means "to be", and Star is "to reside".
Here, only simple, one-word forms are given.
All languages below also possess numerous compound tenses.
;FI
IncompleteObligatory ser
Ser is always used when the complement is a noun, whether or not the speaker intended to express a fundamental essence (though in practice they do tend to express this):
A special use of ser, which expresses neither a nature nor a state but an action, is the formation of the passive voice:
Note that the passive voice is quite rare in Spanish, with other turns of phrase being used instead.Obligatory estar
Estar is used to refer to physical location. In the Spanish mind, location is a state, and therefore goes with estar, even in those cases (e.g. Madrid está en España "Madrid is in Spain") when one might think that it is something so permanent and fundamental that it could be logical to use ser. With immobile things, quedar is often used instead of estar.
Estar must be used when the complement is bien or mal, no matter what meaning is intended.
Other special cases
;Happiness
Although "sadness" is expressed fairly straightforwardly with triste, "happiness" is a little trickier. The quality of being joyous, lively and happy is expressed with ser alegre. This can describe people, music, colours, etc. Estar alegre expresses the state of being merry, often in practice actually meaning "drunk", "tipsy".In Catalan
The last three forms of the first verb survive in modern Catalan. Ser is considered the most standard, followed by ésser, then esser.In French
In Italian
In Portuguese
In Romanian
In Romansh
Conjugation
In Latin
;SVM
;STO
In Castilian/Spanish
;SER
;ESTAR
In Catalan
;SER/ÉSSER
;ESTAR
In French
;ÊTRE
In Italian
;ESSERE
;STARE
In Portuguese
;SER
;ESTAR
In Romanian
In Romansh