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"to be (located, in a state)" in seven languages

Meaningto be (located, in a state)

Spanish

estar

/esˈtaɾ/

inherited

Location (está en casa) and passing states (estoy cansado); ser is for what something is.

French

être

/ɛtʁ/

other source · Latin *ESSERE (ESSE): French has no separate verb for this; Old French ester ← STĀRE 'to stand' survived only in law ('ester en justice')

STĀRE still hides inside être: the imperfect j'étais and the participle été come from STĀBAM and STATUM.

Italian

stare

/ˈstare/

inherited

Stare covers states and staying (sto bene, stai zitto, sto mangiando), but plain location usually takes essere (Roma è in Italia).

Portuguese

estar

/esˈtah/

inherited

Romanian

fi

/fi/

other source · Latin FIERĪ 'to become' (with forms of ESSE)

Romanian has one verb 'to be'; sta, STĀRE's heir, means 'to stand, stay'.

Catalan

estar

/əsˈta/

inherited

English

be

/bi/

native English · Old English bēon

Native 'stand' is a distant cognate of STĀRE (PIE *steh₂-).

English → Italianto be (located, in a state)stareNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: state, station, status, stable, stay.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

STĀRE‘to stand’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

Latin STĀRE 'to stand' slowly turned into a second 'to be'. Spanish went furthest (ser vs estar), Italian stopped halfway, and French merged it into être — leaving only fossils like j'étais and été.

English relatives: state, station, status, stable, stay

Sound laws at work

S + consonant at the start of a word

Learn it

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In a sentence

  • esEstoy bien, gracias.
  • frJe vais bien, merci.
  • itSto bene, grazie.
  • ptEstou bem, obrigado.
  • roSunt bine, mulțumesc.
  • caEstic bé, gràcies.
  • enI'm fine, thanks.

More in Core verbs

All Core verbs words