Ser and Descriptions Study Guide

​"SER" means "to be"

This is one of the most important verbs in Spanish. It is an irregular verb, so it does not follow a pattern or rule. We must memorise it.

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We use SER in many occasions. For example, to describe characteristics or talk about nationalities, personal descriptions and character.​

​SER - to be

In Spanish, verbs change depending on the subject (person) who is doing the action:

​* Usted = formal 'you' singular

* Ustedes = formal 'you' plural​

Gender and number

• As you know, ALL nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine

• Adjectives must agree with the gender of noun, usually by changing to 'o' or 'a'

• E.G. el chico alto y la chica baja

• Adjectives that end in a consonant or the letter 'e' don't change (for example, inteligente, jóven, amable, etc.)

• We also talked about the concept of number

• Nouns can be singular (only one)

• Or nouns can be plural (more than one)

• See example on the right -->

​Singular:

El libro = the book

Un libro = a book

Plural:

Los libros = the books

Unos libros = some books

Dos libros = two books

El and la are for singular nouns, and you can also use un and una to say 'one'

• When using adjectives to describe, they must agree in both gender AND number

• This means you need to add an 's' or 'es' to make adjectives plural

• 'es' is added when the adjectives ends in a consonant

​Example for adjectives that end in "o":

​Example for adjectives that end in a consonent:

El chico es joven

La chica es joven

Los chicos son jóvenes

Las chicas son jóvenes

​Example for adjectives that end in "e":

El chico es inteligente

La chica es inteligente

Los chicos son inteligentes

Las chicas son inteligentes

​Example with TRABAJADOR:

El chico es trabajador

La chica es trabajadora

Los chicos son trabajadores

Las chicas son trabajadoras

***This adjective is a bit irregular

• Adjectives are words which describe nouns or pronouns

• In Spanish, all adjectives MUST agree in number and gender with the nouns they describe

• Gender: nouns are either masculine or feminine

• Number: nouns are either singular or plural