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June 27, 2020 by Rafael Parra Spanish Grammar 0 comments

‘Ser’ Adjectives and How to Use Them in Spanish Sentences

Learning the different forms of the verb ser, Spanish for “to be,” is one of the more challenging aspects of learning the language. In English, conjugating the verb “to be” requires memorizing all of the irregular forms of the verb; the same case applies to Spanish. Unfortunately, most of these conjugations have no shortcut or easy way to learn them (with a few exceptions). On top of that, learning between ser and estar can also take some time! If you want to learn to conjugate ser, you’ll have to put in the legwork. So let’s slip into our running shoes and start learning the many ways you can conjugate ser in Spanish!

Ser Conjugation Tables

Let’s check out some conjugation tables for the different situations you’ll be using ser in.

Indicativo

The indicativo (indicative) form of the verb “to be” is used to describe and classify nouns. For example: Yo soy alto means “I’m tall,” and it describes something about myself. Let’s check the table out!

PronounPresentPast ImperfectSimple PastSimple FutureConditional Simple
Yosoyerafui serésería
Túeres / soserasfuisteserásserías
El/Ellaeserafueserásería
Nosotros/Nosotrassomoséramosfuimosseremosseríamos
Ustedessoneranfueronseránserían
Ellos/Ellassoneranfueronseránserían

Subjuntivo

Subjuntivo (subjunctive) forms of the verb “to be” describe hypothetical situations. A great example of this is the song “Si yo fuera rico” (If I were rich) from the Spanish version of Fiddler on the Roof. I recommend this song if you want to practice subjunctive conjugations!

PronounPresentPast ImperfectSimple Future
Yoseafuera / fuesefuere
Túseasfueras / fuesesfueres
El/Ellaseafuera / fuesefuere
Nosotros/Nosotrasseamosfuéramos / fuésemosfuéremos
Ustedesseanfueran / fuesenfueren
Ellos/Ellasseanfueran / fuesenfueren

Imperativo

Imperativo forms of the verb “to be” are used to give commands in Spanish, great for when you need to get some teamwork done!

PronounImperative form
Túsé / seas
Él / Ellasean
Ustedessed
Ellos/Ellassean

How do Adjectives work in Spanish?

Types of Adjectives

In Spanish there are several kinds of adjectives that interact with the verb ser in different ways. Let’s take a look at them.

Possessive and Demonstrative Adjectives

Possessive

First-person singular: mi, mío, mis, míos

First-person plural: nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras

Second-person singular: tu, su, tuyo, tus, sus, tuyos, suyos

Second-person plural: su, sus

Third-person singular: su, sus

Third-person plural: su, sus

Demonstrative

Describing proximity: ese, esa, esos, esas, este, esta, estos, estas

Describing distance: aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquellas

How to Use Possessive and Demonstrative Adjectives With Ser

The possessive adjectives mío, míos, tuyo, tuyos, and suyos go after the verb ser.

  • El carro azul es mío. — The blue car is mine.

Alternatively, mi, mis, tu, su, and sus go before the verb ser.

  • Mi carro es azul. — My car is blue.

Nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, and nuestras can go either before or after the verb ser.

  • Nuestros amigos son geniales. — Our friends are great.
  • Esas sillas son nuestras. — Those chairs are ours.

Limiting Adjectives

Limiting adjectives, or adjetivos indefinidos are used to describe subjective or abstract orders of magnitude. 

Spanish AdjectiveTranslation
muchoA lot
pocoA little
algunosome
bastantemany
ninguno none
suficienteenough
variosvarious
cuantoAs much as / as soon as
demasiadoToo much / too many
ciertocertain (number)
cualquierany
demásothers
cadaevery

We’ll talk about how placement affects the meaning of some verbs later, so stay tuned! Let’s look at some examples of these adjectives with the verb ser. 

La época medieval fue hace mucho tiempo. — The middle ages were a long time ago.

Mi fiesta de cumpleaños fue hace algunos meses. — My birthday party was some months ago.

Una hamburguesa es suficiente para mí. — One hamburger is enough for me.

Los chequeos médicos de Juan son cada dos semanas. — Juan’s medical check-ups are every two weeks.

Numeral Adjectives

We’ve covered this topic in a previous blog post, so for these adjectives we’ll get right to the examples. If you don’t know the difference between ordinal and cardinal numbers, or how to say them in Spanish, I highly recommend you take a couple of minutes to read through our Numbers in Spanish post first.

how to use ser adjectives in spanish

Mi hermana es cuatro años menor que yo. — My sister is four years younger than me.

Mañana es el décimo aniversario de mi empresa. — Tomorrow is my company’s tenth anniversary.

El nuevo edificio es diez veces más grande que el anterior. — The new building is ten times bigger than the last one.

Esta es la tercera vez que pierdo mis llaves. — This is the third time I lose my keys.

Placing Adjectives Before Nouns

Most of the time, you’ll find the adjective after the noun it’s describing. Let’s look at a previous example:

Me cantó una canción triste. – She sang me a sad song.

Here, the adjective triste goes right after the noun canción. This is the most common sentence structure you’ll find when speaking Spanish. So what’s the difference when you put the adjective before the noun?

The answer is emphasis. 

By putting the adjective before the noun, you will give more heft to the description of your noun. This is often used in poetry, but it’s not recommended to speak like that or use it often because it’s not a structure found naturally in Spanish. Let’s try it out.

Me cantó una canción triste — Me cantó una triste canción.

Can you feel the difference? The second sentence has a little more heft to it. Triste is emphasized by subverting the expectation of a noun with the adjective, so the unexpected word is easily noticed by the listener.

Adjective Positioning Can Change a Word’s Meaning!

Instead of adding emphasis, some words will change meaning when they are placed before the verb. These exceptions are common in Spanish and won’t sound strange to the common speaker. Here’s a list of common examples for you to learn!

AdjectiveMeaning before nounMeaning after noun
antiguoformerold
ciertocertaintrue
curiosointerestingfeeling curiosity
gran (grande)greatbig
pobreinspiring pain or sufferinglacking money or resources
próximoupcomingnext to
purosimplepure
solosingle (number)lonely
simplemodestlacking
únicoonlyunique
verdaderorealtrue
nuevonew (to the user)brand new
diferentedistinctnot the same
varioseveralvaried

50+ Ser-specific Adjectives with example sentences

Ser adjectives describe permanent qualities and information. To help you remember how to use ser correctly, keep in mind that it’s always used for the following adjectives:

  • nationality
  • size
  • color
  • shape
  • personality
  • appearance

Let’s take a look at how to use various adjectives with the verb ser!

Nationality

Mi padre es guatemalteco, el nació en Santa Rosa. — My dad is Guatemalan, he was born in Santa Rosa.

Si yo fuera mexicana, hablaría español perfectamente. — If I were Mexican, I’d speak Spanish perfectly.

El queso más rico que probé era estadounidense — The tastiest cheese I tried was American.

Los dólares canadienses se ven diferentes — Canadian dollars look different.

Las mejores pupusas siempre han sido salvadoreñas. — The best pupusas have always been Salvadorian.

Cuando estábamos perdidos en nuestro viaje, fuimos guiados por unos amables puertorriqueños. — When we were lost during our trip, we were guided by some kind Puerto Ricans.

Size

No creo que el monte Rushmore sea más grande que el monte Everest. — I don’t think Mount Rushmore is bigger than Mount Everest.


Tu hermana será la más alta del colegio. — Your sister will be the tallest in school.

El ratón vaquero es pequeño — The cowboy mouse is small.

Ese basquetbolista es alto. — That basketball player is tall.

No se electrocutó porque el voltaje era bajo. — He didn’t get electrocuted because the voltage was low.

El elefante azul era enorme. — The blue elephant was huge.

La rata canguro es un animal diminuto. — The kangaroo rat is a tiny animal.

La caja de madera en el ático era pesada. — The wooden box in the attic was heavy.

Las plumas de pavorreal son livianas. — Peacock feathers are light.

Los tallos de bambú que debes usar serán delgados. — The bamboo stems you must use will be thin.

 Prefiero usar un yeso que sea grueso. — I prefer to use thick chalk pieces.

Color

Las manzanas son rojas. — Apples are red.

La naranja no será naranja hasta que madure. — The orange won’t be orange until it ripens.

Mi color favorito siempre fue el amarillo. — My favorite color was always yellow.

Recientemente mi color favorito cambió, ahora es verde. — Recently my favorite color changed, now it’s green.

El mar es azul porque refleja el cielo. — The ocean is blue because it reflects the sky.

La flor de jacaranda es morada. — The jacaranda flower is purple.

Ella quiere pintar su pared de rosa. — She wants to paint her wall pink.

La arena de las playas de Cancún es blanca. — The sand in cancún’s beaches is white.

La túnica del mago era negra. — The wizard’s robe was black.

Me parece relajante cuando el día es gris. — It’s relaxing to me when the day is gray.

Shape

El planeta tierra es redondo. — Planet Earth is round.

El pedazo de papel que necesito es cuadrado. — The piece of paper I need is square.

El lienzo inusual del artista era triangular. — The artist’s unusual canvas was triangular.

El movimiento de la rueda de la fortuna es circular. — The ferris wheel’s movement is circular.

La forma de la gelatina es irregular. — Gelatin shape is irregular.

Las alas de la mariposa eran simétricas. — The butterfly’s wings were symmetrical.

El arquitecto audaz construyó una oficina piramidal. — The bold architect constructed a pyramidal office space.

El CD es circular, pero la caja en la que viene es rectangular. — The CD is circular, but the box it comes in is rectangular.

El modelo a escala del planeta era esférico. — The scaled model of the Earth was spherical.

Personality

Mi amiga Mafer es introvertida. — My friend Mafer is introverted.

Mis primos y yo somos extrovertidos. — My cousins and I are extroverted.

El señor de la tienda es muy amable. — The man at the store is very kind.

Frank siempre será honesto contigo. — Frank will always be honest with me.

Mi hermana fue muy inocente para entender ese chiste. — My sister was too naive to understand that joke.

Creo que eres bastante organizada. — I think you’re very organized.

He sido impaciente al hacer filas largas. — I’ve been impatient at long queues

Appearance

La chica con la que salgo es guapa. — The girl I’m dating is good looking.

La bruja que era fea. — The witch was ugly.

Encontrar un oso de agua es muy raro. — Finding a water bear is very rare.

Durante la cuarentena estaba desarreglado a menudo. — He was often unkempt during quarantine.

Mi sobrino aún es muy joven. — My nephew is still very young.

Toda la música que escucha mi hermana es vieja. — All of the music my sister listens to is old.

Adjectives that change meaning between estar and ser

Some adjectives will change depending on whether you use ser or estar. You have to be careful with some of these, because you can end up saying something offensive without wanting to! This handy list will help you know which mistakes to avoid making.

WordMeaning with serMeaning with estar
Bueno/aBeing goodBeing attractive (vulgar)
SanoHaving a healthy lifestyleBeing healthy
EnfermoHaving mental problemsBeing sick
MaloBeing evilBeing sick
RicoBeing richBeing tasty
VivoLiving organism (noun)Being alive
OrgullosoBeing pridefulBeing proud
ListoBeing smartBeing ready
InteresadoBeing interested for selfish gainBeing interested
MolestoBeing annoyingBeing bothered
SencilloLeading a simple life / Being easyBeing easy
AtentoBeing attentiveBeing alert
VerdeBeing green coloredBeing ripe
AburridoBeing boringBeing bored
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How to Know When You’re Ready to Speak Spanish?

Actually, you’re already ready! Whenever you learn a new language, speaking it as fast as possible is the best way to get used to it. Adjectives are very important if you want to add some color to your conversations, they can even help you express your opinion in Spanish!

Also, ser verbs can be difficult to learn, but don’t fret!

Put yourself out there by having conversations and making mistakes. People will almost if not always be understanding and appreciate that you’re learning their language. If you want to boost your Spanish skills to the next level, take a free class with a native, certified Spanish speaker today!

Want more amazing Spanish grammar lessons and resources? Check these out!

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  • Asistir vs Atender in Spanish: What’s the Difference?
  • Hacer Conjugation: Free Spanish Lesson, Exercises, and PDF
  • Solicitar vs Aplicar in Spanish: What’s the Difference?
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Rafael Parra
Rafael Parra
Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy
A native Spanish speaker from Guatemala, I'm a psychology student, creative developer, and aspiring polymath who's always learning new things and improving as a person. I'm a nerd when it comes to language, education, and videogames. My goal is to practice all these disciplines in unison and make something great with my time.
Rafael Parra
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