From BE to SER

English Spanish

English verbs can also change according to the subject.

The verb BE in the present tense

Subject	BE
I	am
you	are
he / she / it	is
we	are
you	are
they	are

In English, the verb changes, but the number of different forms is limited: am, is, are.

What is verb conjugation?

Verb conjugation means changing the form of a verb according to the subject.

English

The verb changes, but often only a little.

am is are

Spanish

The verb normally changes more clearly according to the subject.

We usually organize Spanish verb conjugation into six basic slots. Some slots may share the same form.

BE and SER

Ser is one of the Spanish verbs that mean “to be.”

English Spanish

Person	Subject	BE / SER
1st singular	I / yo	am / soy
2nd singular	you / tú	are / eres
2nd singular	you / usted	are / es
3rd singular	he, she / él, ella	is / es
1st plural	we / nosotros, nosotras	are / somos
2nd plural	you / vosotros, vosotras	are / sois
2nd plural	you / ustedes	are / son
3rd plural	they / ellos, ellas	are / son

BE: 3 forms
am, is, are

SER: 6 forms
soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son

A special case: usted and ustedes

What do you notice?

Pronoun	SER
usted	es
él / ella	es
ustedes	son
ellos / ellas	son

usted and ustedes are second-person pronouns.

But they use the same verb forms as the third person:
usted → es, like él / ella → es
ustedes → son, like ellos / ellas → son

The standard conjugation table of SER

Subject	SER
yo	soy
tú	eres
él / ella / usted	es
nosotros / nosotras	somos
vosotros / vosotras	sois
ellos / ellas / ustedes	son

Important:
usted and ustedes are still second-person pronouns.
They are grouped here with the third-person forms because they use the same verb forms.

Six basic verb-form slots

	Singular	Plural
1st	yo → soy	nosotros/as → somos
2nd	tú → eres	vosotros/as → sois
3rd-form slot	él / ella / usted → es	ellos / ellas / ustedes → son

These six slots help us organize and learn verb forms.

Now let’s use ser in sentences. Do we always need to say the subject?

Spanish often leaves out the subject

Compare the sentences. In Spanish, both versions are correct when the meaning is clear.

English	Spanish: with the subject	Spanish: without the subject
I am a teacher.	Yo soy profesor.	Soy profesor.
You are a student.	Tú eres estudiante.	Eres estudiante.
She is Spanish.	Ella es española.	Es española.
We are students.	Nosotros somos estudiantes.	Somos estudiantes.
You are students.	Vosotros sois estudiantes.	Sois estudiantes.
They are from Hong Kong.	Ellos son de Hong Kong.	Son de Hong Kong.

In English, we normally need a subject:
I am a teacher.

In Spanish, we can say Soy profesor.
We do not need to say yo.

We often leave out the subject when the verb form or the context makes the meaning clear.

How do we know who the subject is?

Verb form	What it tells us
soy	yo / I
eres	tú / you (singular)
somos	nosotros / nosotras / we
sois	vosotros / vosotras / you (plural)

Some verb forms have more than one possible subject.

es

él / ella / usted

son

ellos / ellas / ustedes

— ¿De dónde es María?

Where is María from?

— Es de España.

She is from Spain.

We already know we are talking about María, so we do not need to repeat María or ella.

When do we include the subject?

1. To make it clear who we mean

María es profesora. Pedro es estudiante.

María is a teacher. Pedro is a student.

We name the subjects to make it clear who we are talking about. If both people are in the conversation, Es estudiante may not tell us who we mean.

2. To emphasize or contrast

Yo soy profesor. Tú eres estudiante.

I am a teacher. You are a student.

We include yo and tú to emphasize the difference between us.

In Spanish, subjects can be left out in all persons—singular and plural.

Leave out the subject when the meaning is clear. Include it when needed for clarity, emphasis or contrast.