Spanish - Lesson 3 - Conjugation of the verb ser
Conjugation of the Verb ser - To Be
Looking for lesson 1? It's right here - click to start learning Spanish!
Here is a chart showing the conjugation of the verb ser, meaning "to be".
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| First | soy I am |
somos we are |
| Second | eres you are |
sois you are |
| Third | es he/it/she/one is |
son they are |
Here are some more vocabulary words. Once again, if you'd rather learn these words as part of a dialog, you can simply go on to the next lesson.
| una madre | a mom / mum, mother |
| quién (sing.) / quiénes (pl.) | who |
| (nosotros) somos | we are |
| (ustedes) son | you (pl.) are |
| mi (sing.) / mis (pl.) | my |
| un padre | a father / parent |
| por supuesto | of course |
| él es | he is |
| elle est | she is |
| (ellos) son | they are |
| abuelo (m.) / abuela (f.) / abuelos (pl.) | grandfather / grandmother / grandparents |
| tú eres | you (sing. familiar) are |
| (yo) soy | I am |
| una princesa | a princess |
Additional Notes
Unlike English and many other languages, there are two verbs meaning "to be" in Spanish. The specific rules will be descibed later, but in general the verb "ser" is used to describe a fundamental state of a noun ("I am a boy"), whereas another verb "estar" is used in general for describing temporary state and locations ("I am hungry").
In Spanish, if the subject is a simple pronoun (such as "yo" or "ella"), it is often dropped from the sentence. So, you might just hear "soy" for "I am" or "van" for "they go".
In Latin America, the "vosotros" (2nd person plural) form is not generally used. In both Spain and Latin America, the "ustedes" form (3rd person plural) can be used as the equivalent of the plural "you" in English.
The "tú" form (2nd person singular) is used when speaking with people you are very familiar with, such as friends and family. For a more polite usage, use the "usted" form (3rd person singular). For example, someone speaking to their boss, or a child speaking to an adult who is not close family might say "usted es" instead of "tú eres".
Random Trivia
English used to also have a separate second person singular form - do you know what it is? It's something you might still hear today, though not very often. Yup, it's "thou", as in "thou art". Most other Indo-European languages still use the second person singular forms, and the English form of many verbs is similar to languages such as German ("thou hast" in English, "du hast" in German, "you have" today).
Congrats! Now you can test your knowledge with a 
Game or an 
Online Quiz
Or go on to the next lesson
Or try other activities or lessons.
Got a correction? Have a suggestion? Use the feedback form below to let us know!