B2 · The passive
estar plus participle: the result
English says «was closed» for both; Spanish makes you choose.
ser plus participle names the event, estar plus participle the state it leaves behind. La puerta fue cerrada a las ocho — somebody closed it at eight. La puerta está cerrada — it is shut now, and who shut it does not come into it.
«The door was closed» is both of those sentences at once, and English decides by context or not at all. There is one place where English does mark it: *«get»*. «The door got closed» is unmistakably the event, «the door was closed» drifts towards the state. Where you could say «got», Spanish wants fue; where you could not, it wants está.
A participle after estar is grammatically an adjective and agrees like one: Las ventanas están abiertas. That also means no por phrase can follow it — a state has no doer.
Die Form
| event | La tienda fue cerrada por la policía. |
| result | La tienda está cerrada. |
| agreement | Las ventanas están abiertas. |
| common cases | está roto, está cansado, está sentado |
| past | estaba cerrado cuando llegamos |
| never with por | está cerrada, sin agente |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
estar plus participle names the state afterwards.
El museo está cerrado los lunes.The museum is closed on Mondays.
The participle agrees like an adjective.
Las cartas ya están escritas.The letters are written already.
No doer is ever named here.
La ventana está rota.The window is broken.
Where English could say «got», it is ser.
La ventana fue rota anoche.The window got broken last night.
Woran man es erkennt
- está
- están
- estaba
- estaban
Beispielsätze
Todo está preparado para la fiesta.Everything is ready for the party.
Los platos están lavados.The dishes are washed.
La calle estaba cortada por las obras.The street was closed off because of the roadworks.
Estoy sentado junto a la ventana.I am sitting by the window.
Noch 6 Beispielsätze
La comida ya está hecha.The food is ready.
Las tiendas están cerradas hasta las cinco.The shops are shut until five.
El informe está terminado.The report is finished.
Estaba muy cansada después del viaje.She was very tired after the journey.
Los billetes están reservados.The tickets are booked.
El coche está aparcado en la esquina.The car is parked on the corner.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
«Is closed» has «is» in it, so out comes ser: La tienda es cerrada. That sentence means the shop is being closed, by somebody, right now. For the state it is está — and the test is whether «got» would fit: «the shop gets closed on Sundays» is a different claim from «the shop is closed on Sundays».
ser is what happened, estar is how it stands — and «got» points at ser.
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