romance copula

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. Notes on the use of Latin words:

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.

Evolution of meaning

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.

In Castilian/Spanish

See also Spanish language and Spanish grammar. The Spanish copulae developed as follows:

ESSE → ssere → sser → *eser → ser
STARE → *estare → estar

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 Est satisfecho, y le da a usted su favor. 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.

Nuance

Es sucio = "He's dirty" (i.e. "He's a dirty person" — characteristic)
Est sucio = "He's dirty" (i.e. "He has some dirt on him" — state)

Es abierta = "She's open" (i.e. "She's an open sort of person" — characteristic)
Est abierta = "It's open" (probably referring to a door or window — state)

Es triste = "He/she/it is sad" (i.e. gloomy — characteristic)
Est triste = "He/she is sad" (i.e. feeling down — state)

Cmo eres? = "What are you like?" (i.e. "describe yourself" — characteristics)
Cmo ests? = "How are you?" (i.e. "how are you doing?" — state)

With adjectives referring to beauty and the like, ser means "to be", and estar means "to look".

Qu guapa es! = "Wow, she's so beautiful" (characteristic)
Qu guapa est! = "Wow, she's looking so beautiful / she's done up so nicely" (state)

Note that the differentiation between "nature" and "state" makes sense when talking about the states of life and death: Est vivo (He is alive). Est muerto (He is dead). Note that estar is used for both alive and dead, since they are both states, although being dead is considered a permanent state. The use of estar gives a certain special nuance to some verbs. For example, estar guapa, though it has the sense of "to be beautiful", also emphasizes the use of make-up and clothes to create a beautiful look. Ser sucio instead of the more usual estar sucio means to be the sort of person who is likely to be dirty. The adjective loco ("mad", "crazy", "insane") is always used with estar in Spain, as the implication is that the person "has gone mad" (i.e. a change of state). It is possible to give it a permanent nuance, but only by using it as a noun: es un loco, "he's a madman". Ser loco is used in Latin America, however. The expression como una cabra (with the implied loco omitted) is used with estar to mean "mad as a hatter", "crazy as a loon". Ser como una cabra would literally mean "to be like a goat". Ser is used with adjectives of fundamental belief, nationality, sex, intelligence, etc. The use of estar with francs ("French") sounds quite odd to native Spanish speakers, as though it meant "to feel a bit French". Similarly, no estar catlico does not mean "to no longer be Catholic", but is a colloquial expression meaning "to feel under the weather". Note how this is a state. Many students of Spanish feel that the difference between the two verbs is "permanent" versus "temporary", but in the Spanish mind, the difference is "essential nature" versus "state or condition".

Specific interpretations requiring ser

A special use of ser, which expresses neither a nature nor a state but an action, is the formation of the passive voice:

Han sido asesinados = "They have been murdered"
Sers juzgada = "You will be judged"

Note that the Spanish passive voice is rarer than in English, with other turns of phrase being used instead.

Specific interpretations requiring estar

Past participles

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:

La frontera est cerrada = "The border is closed"
Estoy casado = "I'm married" (Soy casado is also possible; note that "I'm single", "I'm widowed", etc all use ser, which shows that the only reason casado usually takes estar is that it is a participle, and not because Spanish speakers consider marriage to be some sort of temporary state!)

A special example of this tendency is what happens with words indicating prohibition and suchlike. If an adjective not deriving from a verb were used, then the meaning would definitely require ser. To say the same thing with a past participle, estar (or quedar) is required, in order to differentiate it from the use of ser with a past participle implying an action expressed in the passive voice:

Es ilegal fumar en este vuelo = "It is illegal to smoke on this flight" (straightforward case of ser)
Est prohibido fumar en este vuelo = "It is forbidden to smoke on this flight" (estar necessary to distinguish the sentence from the following one)
Ha sido prohibido fumar en este vuelo = "It has been forbidden (i.e. made against the rules) to smoke on this flight" (This is an example of the passive voice. This use of ser in the perfect tense is similar to the use of estar in the present tense; the former expressing an event in the past, the latter expressing its current effect.)

This fine nuance is not encountered in other Romance languages, which do not go to such lengths to distinguish between passives and similar-sounding phrases.

Location

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 est en Espaa "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. However, ser can sometimes occur with words such as aqu, which can mislead learners into thinking that physical location can be expressed with ser. In fact, the verb in this case identifies the place rather than expressing where it is. For example, one might say to a taxi driver the following phrases, to indicate that you have arrived:

Est aqu = "It's here"
Es aqu = "It's here"

The difference becomes clear if aqu is changed to esta calle:

Est en esta calle = "It's in this street"
Es esta calle = "It's this street"

Es aqu and es esta calle express the idea that "this is the place", a concept quite different from what is expressed by estar. The only case in which true location is expressed by ser is when an event rather than a physical thing is referred to:

Dnde es la fiesta? = "Where is the party?"
Dnde est la sala de fiestas? = "Where is the discothque?"

Words requiring ser

Ser is always used when the complement is a noun or pronoun, whether or not the speaker intended to express a fundamental essence (though in practice they do tend to express this):

Es una persona sucia = "He's a dirty person"
Es una persona abierta = "She's an open person"
Soy la vctima = "I'm the victim"

However, it is not always easy to know what is a noun. For example, pez is a noun meaning "fish", but estar pez is a colloquial expression meaning to be "rubbish" or "useless" at a given activity.

Words requiring estar

Estar must be used when the complement is bien or mal, no matter what meaning is intended.

Este libro est muy bien = Este libro es muy bueno = "This book is very good" (nature)
Estoy muy mal = Estoy muy malo = "I'm feeling terrible, ill" (state)

Total change of meaning with specific adjectives

There are many adjectives that change in meaning entirely depending on the verb used, sometimes meaning almost the opposite. Note that in each case the meaning which is more of a "nature" goes with ser and the meaning which is more of a "state" goes with estar.

djective	with estar	with ser
aburrido	"bored"	"boring"
bueno	"tasty", "sexy"	"good"
cachondo	"aroused"	"sexy", "funny person"
cansado	"tired"	"tiring/tiresome"
listo	"ready"	"clever"
rico	"delicious"	"rich"
seguro	"sure/certain"	"safe"
vivo	"lively", "bright"	"alive"

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". 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: qued muy contenta cuando le dije que haba ganado = "she was very glad when I told her she had won"; me alegro de que hayis 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.

In Catalan

The Catalan copulae developed as follows:

ESSE → ssere → sser → esser → ser
STARE → *estare → estar

The last three forms of the first verb survive in modern Catalan. Ser is considered the most standard, followed by sser, then esser. The distinction between the two copulae is very similar to the distinction in Spanish, with the following exceptions, amongst others:

Expressions such as "it is allowed" use either ser or avoid the copula completely and use the impersonal pronoun es instead. So, est permitido corresponds to s perms or es permet.
Ser is often used to express location.

In French

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; around the same time, most words beginning with est- changed to t- or t-. The modern form of the verb is tre. One trace of ester is the past participle: instead of the *tu one would expect, we find t — just what we would expect from ester/ter. The English verb "to stay" is directly from ester. In Provenal, the copula is sser or stre.

In Haitian

Haitian, a creole deriving from French, has a reputation as being rather linguistically exotic when compared to French and the other Romance languages; and it lives up to this reputation with its copula system. It has three forms of the copula: se, ye, and the lack of any word (whose position we will indicate with a placeholder "_", just for purposes of illustration). Although no textual record exists of Haitian at its earliest stages of development from French, se is obviously derived from French c'est (IPA sε), which is the normal French contraction of ce (it) and the copula est (third-person singular of the present indicative of the verb tre, ultimately from SVM). The derivation of ye is less obvious; but we can assume that the French source was il est ("he/it is"), which, in rapidly spoken French, is very commonly pronounced as y est (IPA jε). The use of a null copula is unknown in French, and it is thought to be an innovation from the early days when Haitian was first developing as a Romance-based pidgin. Coincidentally, Latin also sometimes used a null copula. There appears to be no trace of STO.

Distinction between se, ye and null copula

Which of se/ye/_ is used in any given copula clause depends on complex syntactic factors that we can superficially summarize in these four rules: First: Use _ (i.e., no word at all) in declarative sentences where the complement is an adjective phrase, prepositional phrase, or adverb phrase:

Li te _ an Ayiti. (She past-tense in Haiti; "she was in Haiti")
Liv-la _ jon. (Book-the yellow; "the book is yellow")
Timoun-yo _ lakay. (Kids-the home; "the kids are at home")

Second: Use se when the complement is a noun phrase. But note that whereas other verbs come *after* any tense/mood/aspect particles (like pa to mark negation, or te to explicitly mark past tense, or ap to mark progressive aspect), se comes *before* any such particles:

Chal se ekriven. (Charles is writer.)
Chal se pa ekriven. (Charles is not writer; cf. With the verb kouri ("run"): Chal pa kouri, not Chal kouri pa.)
Chal, ki se ekriven, pa vini. (Charles, who is writer, not come.)

Third: Use se where English or French have a "dummy-it" subject:

Se mwen! ("It's me!", French C'est moi!)
Se pa fasil. ("It's not easy", French C'est pas facile)

And finally: use the other copula form, ye, in situations where the sentence's syntax leaves the copula at the end of a phrase:

Kijan ou ye? ("How you are?")
Pou kimoun liv-la te ye? (Of who book-the past-tense is?; "Whose book was it?")
M pa konnen kimoun li ye. (I not know who he is; "I don't know who he is.")
Se yon ekriven Chal ye (It's a writer Charles is; "Charles is a writer!"; cf. French C'est un crivain qu'il est)

The above is, however, only a superficial analysis. For more details on the syntactic conditions as well as on Haitian-specific copula constructions such as se kouri m ap kouri (It's run I progressive run; "I'm really running!"), see the grammar sketch in Catherine Howe's Haitian Creole Newspaper Reader (which is the source for most of the Haitian data in this article), and see also Valdman & Philippe's textbook Ann Pale Kreyol: An Introductory Course in Haitian Creole.

In Italian

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. Stare refers to state rather than essence, but more narrowly than in Spanish. Essere is used for almost all cases in which English uses "to be". It therefore makes sense to concentrate on the few uses of stare.

Stare means "to be", "to be feeling", or "to appear" with bene, male, meglio, come?, etc.: Come stai? "How are you?", Sto bene "I'm well."
Stare is used to form continuous forms of tenses: sto aspettando "I am waiting", Stavo parlando con... "I was speaking with..."
Stare's past participle stato has replaced that of essere, and so stato is used for "been" in all senses.
Stare can mean "to stand" (usually stare in piedi) but it's not common.
Starci (lit. To stay in it) means "to fit"
Stare can be an alternative to restare "to stay"
Stare is occasionally "to be located". This is common in the south of Italy.

In Portuguese

The Portuguese copulae developed as in Spanish:

ESSE → ssere → sser → *eser → ser
STARE → *estare → estar

The Portuguese distinction between the two verbs is very similar to Catalan. Compared to Spanish, estar is a little less used. There is perhaps a little more of a concept of permanent versus temporary, rather than essence versus state. The main difference between Spanish and Portuguese is that Portuguese is in the interpretation of the concept of state versus essence and in the generalisations one way or another that are made in certain constructions. For example, Portuguese does not require estar with past participles; in this case it follows the general rule regarding state/essence.

A cadeira feita de madeira = "The chair is made of wood"

The word meaning "made" is in square brackets here, as it possible to omit it. The equivalent Spanish phrase would have to switch to the use of estar if this word were included.

Eu sou casado = "I'm married"

The same applies in sentences such as the following, which use ser for the passive voice, with no special exeptions for prohibitions and the like:

proibido fumar neste vo = "No smoking on this flight" (lit. "it is forbidden to...")

Portuguese counts location as something fundamental, and accordingly uses ser, or the specific verb ficar:

Lisboa fica em Portugal = "Lisbon is located in Portugual"
Onde /fica o apartamento dela? = "Where is her flat/apartment?"

Miscelleanous examples:

s louco! = "You're mad!"
Ests louco! = "You've gone mad!"

Eu no sou catlico = "I'm not Catholic"
Eu no estou muito catlico = "I'm not in a good way" (perhaps feeling drunk or ill)
O tempo hoje no est muito catlico = "The weather's not nice today"

In Romanian

A fi is the copula in Romanian.

In Romansh

Esser means "to be", and Star is "to reside".

Conjugation

Here, only simple, one-word forms are given. All languages below also possess numerous compound tenses.

In Latin

SVM

Non-finite forms:

Present infinitive: ESSE
Future infinitive: FORE (FVTVRVM ESSE)
Future participle: FVTVRVS
Perfect infinitive: FVISSE

Indicative:

Present: SVM, ES, EST, SVMVS, ESTIS, SVNT
Imperfect: ERAM, ERAS, ERAT, ERAMVS, ERATIS, ERANT
Future: ERO, ERIS, ERIT, ERIMVS, ERITIS, ERVNT
Perfect: FVI, FVISTI, FVIT, FVIMVS, FVISTIS, FVERVNT
Pluperfect: FVERAM, FVERAS, FVERAT, FVERAMVS, FVERATIS, FVERANT
Future anterior: FVERO, FVERIS, FVERIT, FVERIMVS, FVERITVS, FVERINT

Subjunctive:

Present: SIM, SIS, SIT, SIMVS, SITIS, SINT
Imperfect: ESSEM, ESSES, ESSET, ESSEMVS, ESSETIS, ESSENT
Perfect: FVERIM, FVERIS, FVERIT, FVERIMVS, FVERITIS
Pluperfect: FVISSEM, FVISSES, FVISSET, FVISSEMVS, FVISSETIS, FVISSENT

Imperative: ES, ESTE

STO

Non-finite forms:

Present infinitive: STARE
Future participle: STATVRVS
Perfect infinitive: ?STETISSE
Gerund: STANDVM
Supine: STATV(M)
Present participle: STANS

Indicative:

Present: STO, STAS, STAT, STAMVS, STATIS, STANT
Imperfect: STABAM, STABAS, STABAT, STABAMVS, STABATIS, STABANT
Future: ?STABO, ?STABIS, ?STABIT, ?STABIMVS, ?STABITIS, ?STABVNT
Perfect: STETI, STETISTI, STETIT, STETIMVS, STETISTIS, STETERVNT
Pluperfect: ?STETERAM, ?STETERAS, ?STETERAT, ?STETERAMVS, ?STETERATIS, ?STETERANT
Future anterior: ?STETERO, ?STETERIS, ?STETERIT, ?STETERIMVS, ?STETERITIS, ?STETERINT

Subjunctive:

Present: STEM, STES, STET, STEMVS, STETIS, STENT
Imperfect: ?
Perfect: ?
Pluperfect: ?

Imperative: ?

In Castilian/Spanish

SER

olspan="6"\|
nfinitive	colspan="6"\| ser
erund	colspan="6"\| siendo
ast participle	colspan="6"\|sido
gcolor="gray"\|Indicative	yo	t	l	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
resent	soy	eres	es	somos	sois	son
mperfect	era	eras	era	ramos	erais	eran
reterite	fui	fuiste	fue	fuimos	fuisteis	fueron
uture	ser	sers	ser	seremos	seris	sern
gcolor="gray"\|Conditional	yo	t	l	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
nbsp;	sera	seras	sera	seramos	serais	seran
gcolor="gray"\|Subjunctive	yo	t	l	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
resent	sea	seas	sea	seamos	seis	sean
mperfect 1	fuera	fueras	fuera	furamos	fuerais	fueran
mperfect 2	fuese	fueses	fuese	fusemos	fueseis	fuesen
uture	fuere	fueres	fuere	furemos	fuereis	fueren
gcolor="gray"\|Imperative		t	usted		vosotros	ustedes
nbsp;		s	sea		sed	sean

ESTAR

olspan="6"\|
nfinitive	colspan="6"\| estar
erund	colspan="6"\| estando
ast participle	colspan="6"\|estado
gcolor="gray"\|Indicative	yo	t	l	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
resent	estoy	ests	est	estamos	estis	estn
mperfect	estaba	estabas	estaba	estbamos	estabais	estaban
reterite	estuve	estuviste	estuvo	estuvimos	estuvisteis	estuvieron
uture	estar	estars	estar	estaremos	estaris	estarn
gcolor="gray"\|Conditional	yo	t	l	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
nbsp;	estara	estaras	estara	estaramos	estarais	estaran
gcolor="gray"\|Subjunctive	yo	t	l	nosotros	vosotros	ellos
resent	est	ests	est	estemos	estis	estn
mperfect 1	estuviera	estuvieras	estuviera	estuviramos	estuvierais	estuvieran
mperfect 2	estuviese	estuvieses	estuviese	estuvisemos	estuvieseis	estuviesen
uture	estuviere	estuvieres	estuviere	estuviremos	estuviereis	estuvieren
gcolor="gray"\|Imperative†		t	usted		vosotros	ustedes
nbsp;		est (estate)	est (estese)		estad (estaos)	estn (estense)

† Estar is usually made reflexive in the imperative.

In Catalan

SER/SSER

Non-finite:

Infinitive: ser/sser
Gerund: sent/essent
Past participle: sigut (but estat from estar is usually used instead)

Indicative:

Present: sc, ets, s, som, sou, sn
Imperfect: era, eres, era, rem, reu, eren
Preterite: fui, fores, fou, frem, freu, foren
Future: ser, sers, ser, serem, sereu, seran

Conditional:

seria, series, seria, seria, serem, sereu, serien / fra, fores, fra, frem, freu, foren

Subjunctive:

Present: sigui, siguis, sigui, siguem, sigueu, siguin
Imperfect: fos, fossis, fos, fssim, fssiu, fossin

Imperative:

sigues, sigueu

ESTAR

Non-finite:

Infinitive: estar
Gerund: estant
Past participle: estat

Indicative:

Present: estic, ests, est, estem, esteu, estan
Imperfect: estava, estaves, estava, estvem, estveu, estaven
Preterite: estigu, estigueres, estigu, estigurem, estigureu, estigueren
Future: estar, estars, estar, estarem, estareu, estaran

Conditional:

estaria, estaries, estaria, estarem, estareu, estarien

Subjunctive:

Present: estigui, estiguis, estigui, estiguem, estigueu, estiguin
Imperfect: estigus, estiguessis, estigus, estigussim, estigussiu, estiguessin

Imperative:

estigues, estigueu

In French

TRE

Non-finite:

Infinitive: tre
Gerund/present participle: tant
Past participle: t

Indicative:

Present: suis, es, est, sommes, tes, sont
Imperfect: tais, tais, tait, tions, tiez, taient
Past historic: fus, fus, fut, fmes, ftes, furent
Future: serai, seras, sera, serons, serez, seront

Conditional:

serais, serais, serait, serions, seriez, seraient

Subjunctive:

Present: sois, sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient
Imperfect: fusse, fusses, ft, fussions, fussiez, fussent

Imperative:

sois, soyez

In Italian

ESSERE

Non-finite:

Infinitive: essere
Gerund: essendo
Past participle: stato (from stare)

Indicative:

Present: sono, sei, , siamo, siete, sono
Imperfect: ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate
Past historic: fui, fosti, fu, fummo, foste, furono
Future: sar, sarai, sar, saremo, sarete, saranno

Conditional:

sarei, saresti, sarebbe, saremmo, sareste, sarebbero

Subjunctive:

Present: sia, sia, sia, siamo, siate, siano
Imperfect: fossi, fossi, fosse, fossimo, foste, fossero

Imperative:

sii, siate

STARE

Non-finite:

Infinitive: stare
Gerund: stando
Past participle: stato

Indicative:

Present: sto, stai, sta, stiamo, state, stanno
Imperfect: stavo, stavi, stava, stavamo, stavate, stavano
Past historic: stetti, stesti, stette, stemmo, steste, stettero
Future: star, starai, star, staremo, starete, staranno

Conditional:

starei, staresti, starebbe, staremmo, stareste, starebbero

Subjunctive:

Present: stia, stia, stia, stiamo, stiate, stiano
Imperfect: stessi, stessi, stesse, stessimo, steste, stessero

Imperative:

sta’, state

In Portuguese

SER

Non-finite:

Infinitive: ser

Personal infinitive: ser, seres, ser, sermos, serdes, serem

Gerund: sendo
Past participle: sido

Indicative:

Present: sou, s, , somos, sois, so
Imperfect: era, eras, era, ramos, reis, eram
Preterite: fui, foste, foi, fomos, fostes, foram
Pluperfect: fora, foras, fora, framos, freis, foram
Future: serei, sers, ser, seremos, sereis, sero

Conditional:

seria, serias, seria, seramos, sereis, seriam

Subjunctive:

Present: seja, sejas, seja, sejamos, sejais, sejam
Imperfect: fosse, fosses, fosse, fssemos, fsseis, fossem
Future: for, fores, for, formos, fordes, forem

Imperative:

s, seja, sejamos, sede, sejam

ESTAR

Non-finite:

Infinitive: estar

Personal infinitive: estar, estares, estar, estarmos, estardes, estarem

Gerund: estando
Past participle: estado

Indicative:

Present: estou, ests, est, estamos, estais, esto
Imperfect: estava, estavas, estava, estvamos, estveis, estavam
Preterite: estive, estiveste, esteve, estivemos, estivestes, estiveram
Pluperfect: estivera, estiveras, estivera, estivramos, estivreis, estiveram
Future: estarei, estars, estar, estaremos, estareis, estaro

Conditional:

estaria, estarias, estaria, estaramos, estareis, estariam

Subjunctive:

Present: esteja, estejas, esteja, estejamos, estejais, estejam
Imperfect: estivesse, estivesses, estivesse, estivssemos, estivsseis, estivessem
Future: estiver, estiveres, estiver, estivermos, estiverdes, estiverem

Imperative:

est, esteja, estejamos, estai, estejam

In Romanian

FI

Non-finite:

Infinitive: a fi
Gerund: fiind
Past participle: fost

Indicative:

Present: sunt, eşti, e(ste), suntem, sunteţi, sunt
Pluperfect: fusesem, fuseseşi, fusese, fuseserăm, fuseserăţi, fuseseră
Imperfect: eram, erai, era, eram, eraţi, erau
Preterite:

fusei, fuseşi, fuse, fuserăm, fuserăţi, fuseră
fui, fuşi, fu, furăm, furăţi, fură

Future:

voi fi, vei fi, va fi, vom fi, veţi fi, vor fi
o să fiu, o să fii, o să fie, o să fim, o să fiţi, o să fie
oi fi, i fi, a fi, om fi, ţi fi, or fi

Conditional: aş fi, ai fi, ar fi, am fi, aţi fi, ar fi
Subjunctive: să fiu, să fii, să fie, să fim, să fiţi, să fie
Imperative: fii, fiţi

In Romansh

ESSER

Non-finite:

Infinitive: esser
Gerund: essend~siond
Past participle: st

Indicative:

Present: sun, es, , essan, essas, n
Imperfect: era, eras, era, eran, eras, eran

Conditional:

fiss, fissas, fiss, fissan, fissas, fissan

Subjunctive:

Present: saja, sajas, saja, sajan, sajas, sajan

Imperative:

saja, sajas

STAR

Romance Copula

Evolution of meaning

In Castilian/Spanish

Nuance

Specific interpretations requiring ser

Specific interpretations requiring estar

Words requiring ser

Words requiring estar

Total change of meaning with specific adjectives

In Catalan

In French

In Haitian

Distinction between se, ye and null copula

In Italian

In Portuguese

In Romanian

In Romansh

Conjugation

In Latin

In Castilian/Spanish

In Catalan

In French

In Italian

In Portuguese

In Romanian

In Romansh

See also

Further reading