Estar is irregular in the present indicative: estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están. It is used to talk about the current state of a person or thing and to indicate location. In short sentences it appears a lot with clear subjects: yo estoy en casa, tú estás cansado, la mesa está aquí. The form está serves for él, ella, usted; están for ellos, ellas, ustedes. In questions, the verb keeps the same form: ¿estás listo?, ¿dónde están las llaves?

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
él	estar
ellos	estar
yo	estar
tú	estar
nosotros	estar
vosotros	estar

Present indicative of estar

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
yo	estar	estoy
tú	estar	estás
él	estar	está
nosotros	estar	estamos
vosotros	estar	estáis
ellos	estar	están

Scramble

With estar you say where someone or something is located in a specific place: Madrid is in Spain, my brother is in the kitchen, the book is on the table. It is also used to situate a person in a temporary place: I am at work, we’re at the airport. When the place is part of the identity of a city, a country or a building, estar remains the normal form for physical location. To see another verb of position and state, you can compare with Estar en las nubes, where estar appears in a fixed expression.

Use of estar for concrete location

Idea
Use estar to indicate the exact location of a person or thing.
Use estar to indicate where someone is at a specific moment.
Use estar to talk about a fixed place within a scene or situation.

Estar expresses conditions that change or last only for a time: I am tired, you are sick, she is nervous, we are ready. The idea is that the situation may vary later. That is why it is used with emotions, health, mood, attention and availability: I am happy, she is busy, they are safe. In this use, the adjective describes how someone is right now, not a permanent characteristic.

Temporary states with estar

Usage	Explanation
Fatigue	Use estar when the tiredness is momentary and can change soon.
Momentary health	Use estar to describe a health condition that is not permanent.
Preparation or readiness	Use estar to say someone is ready or prepared for something.
Momentary safety or certainty	Use estar to express a certainty that depends on the current situation.

With estar + adjective the result of a change or a condition achieved is spoken of: the door is open, the food is cold, the report is finished. The door was not born open; it reaches that state. Therefore estar indicates the visible result at the moment. This pattern appears a lot with participles used as adjectives, like closed, arranged, prepared. In contrast to phrases with Presente Progresivo, here we do not describe an action in progress, but the state that remains.

Estar with result adjectives

Idea
Use estar with adjectives to show a result achieved.
Use estar when the adjective describes a state that can change.
Use estar to describe a current condition perceived as a result.

The progressive is formed with estar + gerund: I am working, you are reading, they are talking. The gerund ends in -ando for first-conjugation verbs and in -iendo for many others: talking, eating, living. This pattern is used for actions in progress at the moment of speaking or in a nearby period: now we are having dinner, she is studying for the exam. The auxiliary estar is the same verb learned in Verbos Auxiliares, but here it functions as the base for the progressive tense.

Formation of the progressive with estar

Idea
Use estar plus gerund to talk about an ongoing action.
Use estar plus gerund when you want to highlight that the action keeps happening.
Use estar plus gerund to present a lively and momentary scene.

The gerund of estar is estando. It is used in fixed expressions and in very common constructions: estando en casa, estando de viaje, estando de acuerdo. It also appears in structures like estar + gerund when the verb itself carries another action: estando sentado, estando cansado, estando en clase. It is not used as the main form to express presence or state; for that you use estoy, estás, está and the other present tense forms.

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
gerundio	estar

Gerund of estar

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
gerundio	estar	estando

Scramble

In the preterite, estar changes to estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvisteis, estuvieron. It is used for a closed situation in the past: I was in Paris last year, they were very calm during the meeting, the door was open all afternoon. The action or the state has ended. When you narrate a complete past moment, this form presents the stay, the state or the location as finished facts.

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
tú	estar
él	estar
yo	estar
vosotros	estar
nosotros	estar
ellos	estar

Simple past of estar

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
yo	estar	estuve
tú	estar	estuviste
él	estar	estuvo
nosotros	estar	estuvimos
vosotros	estar	estuvisteis
ellos	estar	estuvieron

Scramble

The imperfect is estaba, estabas, estaba, estábamos, estabais, estaban. It serves to describe locations, states and background situations in the past: when I arrived, I was in the kitchen, as a child I was very shy, the lights were on. The imperfect does not mark the end of the situation; it presents it as continuous or habitual in that time. It is the normal form to create the background of a story, while another fact interrupts or changes the scene.

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
tú	estar
ellos	estar
yo	estar
nosotros	estar
él	estar
vosotros	estar

Imperfect of indicativo de estar

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
yo	estar	estaba
tú	estar	estabas
él	estar	estaba
nosotros	estar	estábamos
vosotros	estar	estabais
ellos	estar	estaban

Scramble

The future is formed with estaré, estarás, estará, estaremos, estaréis, estarán. It is used to say where or how someone will be later: tomorrow I will be at home, they will be calmer after talking, the office will be closed in the afternoon. It also serves for assumptions about the present when speaking with some distance: he’ll be in the car, they’ll be busy. The form is regular in the infinitive and the change appears only in the endings.

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
yo	estar
tú	estar
él	estar
ellos	estar
nosotros	estar
vosotros	estar

Simple future of estar

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
yo	estar	estaré
tú	estar	estarás
él	estar	estará
nosotros	estar	estaremos
vosotros	estar	estaréis
ellos	estar	estarán

Scramble

The conditional is estaría, estarías, estaría, estaríamos, estaríais, estarían. It appears for hypotheses, courtesy and possibilities: I would be better in another room, would you be free tomorrow?, they would agree if they knew it. It is also used to talk about a situation dependent on another: if I had time, I would be with you. With this form, estar presents an imagined, probable or mild condition.

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
yo	estar
él	estar
vosotros	estar
nosotros	estar
tú	estar
ellos	estar

Simple conditional of estar

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
yo	estar	estaría
tú	estar	estarías
él	estar	estaría
nosotros	estar	estaríamos
vosotros	estar	estaríais
ellos	estar	estarían

Scramble

The participle of estar is estado. It is used with haber in compound tenses: he estado, has estado, había estado, habrán estado. It also appears in very common expressions like ha estado bien, hemos estado allí, ¿has estado en México?. In these cases, the participle does not describe an isolated adjective, but the participation of the verb in a compound tense, where Verbos Auxiliares explains the role of haber as verbal support.

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
participio	estar

Participle of estar

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
participio	estar	estado

Scramble

The forms for vosotros are estáis in present, estuvisteis in preterite, estabais in imperfect, estaréis in future and estaríais in conditional. They are used to address several people in Spain: you all are here, you all will be ready tomorrow. In many countries in the Americas, you rarely hear vosotros in daily conversation, and the forms ustedes están, ustedes estarán, ustedes estarían are preferred. In everyday Spanish, estar appears constantly with location, state, result and progressive, so these forms allow recognizing the person and the tense precisely.

estaréisustedes estaránestáisustedes están

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estáis es la forma de vosotros para el presente y se usa en la conversación cotidianaEn gran parte de América se usa ustedes estarán donde en España sonaría vosotros estaréisEn gran parte de América se prefiere ustedes están en lugar de vosotros estáis para la charla diariaestaréis es la forma de vosotros para el futuro y suena natural en España

Use of vosotros in different contexts

Region	Variant	Definition	Example
Spain	estáis	estáis is the form of vosotros for the present and is used in everyday conversation.	Vosotros estáis en la plaza viendo pasar un carro de helados.You all estáis in the square watching an ice-cream cart go by.
Spain	estaréis	estaréis is the form of vosotros for the future and sounds natural in Spain.	Mañana vosotros estaréis en el cine con palomitas gigantes.Tomorrow you all estaréis in the cinema with giant popcorn.
America	ustedes están	In much of America people prefer ustedes están instead of vosotros estáis for daily talk.	Ustedes están listos para la foto del grupo.Ustedes están ready for the group photo.
America	ustedes estarán	In much of America people use ustedes estarán where in Spain you would say vosotros estaréis.	Ustedes estarán en la fiesta cuando llegue la tarta.Ustedes estarán at the party when the cake arrives.

Scramble