The copula or copulae (the verb or verbs meaning "to be") in all Romance languages largely derive from the Latin verbs esse "to be" (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h1es-, as in English is); stāre "to stand" (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh2-, as in English stand and German stehen); and sedēre "to sit" (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed-, as in English sit). The verb esse was an irregular, suppletive verb, with some of its forms (e.g. fuī "I was") taken from the Proto-Indo-European verb *bhuH- (as in English be).
A number of developments occurred in the Romance languages:
The development of two copular verbs in this manner occurred most completely in Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan. In other languages, most usages of English "to be" are still translated by *essere:
Portuguese also developed an additional copular verb ficar, with the meaning "to be located" and "to become".
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In English, it is possible to say "there stands..." instead of "there is..." in certain contexts. In Latin, too, it became common to eschew SVM in favour of STO and say where things "stood" instead of where they "were". With time, it became common to use this verb to express other states.
Today, Spanish, Galician, Portuguese, Catalan, and (to a lesser extent) Italian commonly use two copulae, one from each of the Latin verbs. The others use just one main copula, from SVM.
There is also a notable tendency for a derivative of the supine of STO (STATVS, STATA, STATVM) to replace the past participle of verbs deriving from SVM (which in Latin had no supine). Examples:
The Spanish copulae are ser and estar. The latter developed as follows:
The copula ser developed from two Latin verbs. Thus its inflectional paradigm is a combination: most of it derives from SVM (to be) but the present subjunctive appears to come from SEDEO (to sit) via the Old Spanish verb seer.
E.g. derivation from SEDEO:
Derivation from SVM:
The infinitive (on which the modern future and conditional are based) could have derived from either or both:
In the early part of the second millennium, in texts such as the Cantar de Mio Cid, ser was still used mostly as in Latin, and there was little place for estar; sentences like Es pagado, e davos su amor, "He is satisfied, and he gives you his favour" are found, where modern Spanish might have Queda contento, or Está satisfecho, y le da su favor.
As the centuries went by, estar spread in use. Today, ser is used to express the fundamental nature, identity or characteristics of something – what it really is, whilst estar expresses the state something happens to be in. Indeed, ser is etymologically related to the English words "essence" and "is", and estar with "state", "status", "standing", "stance" and "stay".
The verb quedar (which also has the specific meanings of "to remain", "to be as a result" and others) is often used in a similar way to estar. It derives from the Latin QVIETO (QVIETARE in the infinitive), "to rest".
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | ser | |||||
Past participle | sido | |||||
Gerund | siendo | |||||
Person | yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | soy | eres | es | somos | sois | son |
Preterite | fui | fuiste | fue | fuimos | fuisteis | fueron |
Imperfect | era | eras | era | éramos | erais | eran |
Future | seré | serás | será | seremos | seréis | serán |
Conditional | ||||||
sería | serías | sería | seríamos | seríais | serían | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | sea | seas | sea | seamos | seáis | sean |
Imperfect | fuera / fuese | fueras / fueses | fuera / fuese | fuéramos / fuésemos | fuerais / fueseis | fueran / fuesen |
Future† | fuere | fueres | fuere | fuéremos | fuereis | fueren |
Imperative | ||||||
sé | seamos | sed |
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | estar | |||||
Past participle | estado | |||||
Gerund | estando | |||||
Person | yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | estoy | estás | está | estamos | estáis | están |
Preterite | estuve | estuviste | estuvo | estuvimos | estuvisteis | estuvieron |
Imperfect | estaba | estabas | estaba | estábamos | estabais | estaban |
Future | estaré | estarás | estará | estaremos | estaréis | estarán |
Conditional | ||||||
estaría | estarías | estaría | estaríamos | estaríais | estarían | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | esté | estés | esté | estemos | estéis | estén |
Imperfect | estuviera / estuviese | estuvieras / estuvieses | estuviera / estuviese | estuviéramos / estuviésemos | estuvierais / estuvieseis | estuvieran / estuviesen |
Future† | estuviere | estuvieres | estuviere | estuviéremos | estuviereis | estuvieren |
Imperative†† | ||||||
está | estemos | estad |
† Archaic.
†† Estar is usually made reflexive in the imperative.
With adjectives referring to beauty and the like, ser means "to be", and estar means "to look".
Note that the differentiation between "nature" and "state" makes sense when talking about the states of life and death: Él está vivo (He is alive), Él está muerto (He is dead). Estar is used for both alive and dead, since they are both states, although being dead is considered a permanent state.
Ser is used when stating the stage of life at which a person is. The old, the young, etc. are seen as groups that one can belong to. It is a question of identity:
However, age can also be presented not as a matter of identity but a state:
The use of estar gives a certain special nuance to some verbs. For example, estar guapa, though it has the sense of "to be beautiful", also emphasizes the use of make-up and clothes to create a beautiful look. Ser sucio instead of the more usual estar sucio means to be the sort of person who is likely to be dirty.
The adjective loco ("mad", "crazy", "insane") is always used with estar in Spain, as the implication is that the person "has gone mad" (i.e. a change of state). It is possible to give it a permanent nuance, but only by using it as a noun: Él es un loco, "He is a madman". Ser loco is used in certain regions in Latin America, however.
The expression como una cabra (with the implied loco omitted) is used with estar to mean "mad as a hatter", "crazy as a loon". Ser como una cabra would literally mean, "to be like a goat".
Ser is used with adjectives of fundamental belief, nationality, sex, intelligence, etc. The use of estar with francés ("French") would sound quite odd to native Spanish speakers, as though it meant, "to feel a bit French". Similarly, no estar católico does not mean, "to no longer be Catholic", but is a colloquial expression meaning "to feel under the weather". Note that this is a state.
It is often stated that the difference between the two verbs corresponds to "permanent" versus "temporary", but it is more accurate to describe the distinction as one of "essential nature" versus "state or condition". The "essential nature" of things does sometimes change, and this is reflected in the language. For example, someone who had been depressed for a prolonged period, and then had a life changing experience like a new career or long-term relationship, might say ahora yo soy feliz, meaning, "now I am happy".
A special use of ser, which expresses neither a nature nor a state but an action, is the formation of the passive voice:
Note that the Spanish passive voice is rarer than in English, with other turns of phrase being used instead.
Estar is usually used with adjectives that derive from past participles of verbs since the use of ser would sound like a verb in the passive voice. Such adjectives in any case generally refer to states:
A special example of this tendency is what happens with words indicating prohibition and suchlike. If an adjective not deriving from a verb were used, then the meaning would definitely require ser. To say the same thing with a past participle, estar (or quedar) is required, in order to differentiate it from the use of ser with a past participle implying an action expressed in the passive voice:
This fine nuance is not encountered in other Romance languages, which do not go to such lengths to distinguish between passives and similar-sounding phrases.
Estar is used to refer to physical location. In Spanish, location is regarded as a state, and therefore is indicated with estar, even in those cases (e.g. Madrid está en España "Madrid is in Spain") when one might think that it is something so permanent and fundamental that it could be logical to use ser. With immobile things, quedar is sometimes used instead of estar, especially when there is a reference to a length of time, or a remaining distance, e.g.:
However, ser can sometimes occur with words such as aquí, which can mislead learners into thinking that physical location can be expressed with ser. In fact, the verb in this case identifies the place rather than expressing where it is. For example, one might say to a taxi driver the following phrases, to indicate that you have arrived:
The difference becomes clear if aquí is changed to esta calle:
Es aquí and es esta calle express the idea that "this is the place", a concept quite different from what is expressed by estar.
The only case in which true location is expressed by ser is when an event rather than a physical thing is referred to:
Ser is always used when the complement is a noun or pronoun, regardless of whether the speaker intended to express a fundamental essence (though in practice speakers do tend to express this):
However, it is not always easy to know what is a noun. For example, pez is a noun meaning "fish", but estar pez is a colloquial expression meaning to be "rubbish" or "useless" at a given activity.
Estar must be used when the complement is bien or mal, no matter what meaning is intended.
Many adjectives change in meaning entirely depending on the verb used, sometimes meaning almost the opposite. Note that in each case the meaning which is more of a "nature" goes with ser and the meaning which is more of a "state" goes with estar.
adjective | with estar | with ser |
---|---|---|
aburrido | bored | boring |
bueno | tasty, sexy | good |
cachondo | aroused | sexy, funny person |
cansado | tired | tiring/tiresome |
listo | ready | clever |
rico | delicious | rich |
seguro | sure/certain | safe |
vivo | alive | lively, bright |
Although "sadness" is expressed straightforwardly with triste, "happiness" is a little trickier. The quality of being joyous, lively and happy is expressed with ser alegre. This can describe people, music, colours, etc. Estar alegre expresses the state of being merry, which in practice may sometimes mean "drunk", "tipsy".
A person who is fundamentally happy in life is said to ser feliz; indeed la felicidad is that "happiness" for which humans strive. Although in the harsh real world this happiness often turns out to be a transitory state, a person may nevertheless declare yo soy feliz as a statement of optimism that goes beyond the description of today's mood that is expressed by any phrase with estar. As for such moods, they can be expressed with estar feliz.
When not a state but a change of state is referred to, the expression is quedar contento or alegrarse: Ella quedó muy contenta cuando yo le dije que ella había ganado = "she was very glad when I told her that she had won"; Yo me alegro de que vosotros hayáis llegado = "I am glad that ye have come".
In the excerpt from the Cantar de Mio Cid above, one can see that "to be happy" a thousand years ago was ser pagado.
The Portuguese copulae are ser and estar. As in Spanish, estar derived from Latin STO:
The copula ser developed both from SVM and SEDEO. Thus its inflectional paradigm is a combination of these two Latin verbs: most tenses derive from SVM and a few from SEDEO. E.g. derivation from SEDEO:[1]
E.g. derivation from SVM:
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(Impersonal) infinitive | ser | |||||
Past participle | sido | |||||
Gerund | sendo | |||||
Person | eu | tu | ele | nós | vós | eles |
Personal infinitive | ser | seres | ser | sermos | serdes | serem |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | sou | és | é | somos | sois | são |
Preterite | fui | foste | foi | fomos | fostes | foram |
Imperfect | era | eras | era | éramos | éreis | eram |
Pluperfect† | fora | foras | fora | fôramos | fôreis | foram |
Future | serei | serás | será | seremos | sereis | serão |
Conditional†† | ||||||
seria | serias | seria | seríamos | seríeis | seriam | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | seja | sejas | seja | sejamos | sejais | sejam |
Imperfect | fosse | fosses | fosse | fôssemos | fôsseis | fossem |
Future | for | fores | for | formos | fordes | forem |
Imperative | ||||||
sê | seja | sejamos | sede | sejam |
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(Impersonal) infinitive | estar | |||||
Past participle | estado | |||||
Gerund | estando | |||||
Person | eu | tu | ele | nós | vós | eles |
Personal infinitive | estar | estares | estar | estarmos | estardes | estarem |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | estou | estás | está | estamos | estais | estão |
Preterite | estive | estiveste | esteve | estivemos | estivestes | estiveram |
Imperfect | estava | estavas | estava | estávamos | estáveis | estavam |
Pluperfect† | estivera | estiveras | estivera | estivéramos | estivéreis | estiveram |
Future | estarei | estarás | estará | estaremos | estareis | estarão |
Conditional†† | ||||||
estaria | estarias | estaria | estaríamos | estaríeis | estariam | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | esteja | estejas | esteja | estejamos | estejais | estejam |
Imperfect | estivesse | estivesses | estivesse | estivéssemos | estivésseis | estivessem |
Future | estiver | estiveres | estiver | estivermos | estiverdes | estiverem |
Imperative | ||||||
está | esteja | estejamos | estai | estejam |
† Mostly literary.
†† Some authors regard the conditional as a tense of the indicative mood.
The distinction between the two verbs is very similar to that of Catalan. Compared to Spanish, estar is a little less used. The main difference between Spanish and Portuguese lies in the interpretation of the concept of state versus essence and in the generalisations in some constructions. There is perhaps a little more of a concept of permanent versus temporary, rather than essence versus state. For example, unlike Spanish, Portuguese does not require estar with past participles; in this case, it follows the general rule regarding state/essence.
The word feita, "made", is usually omitted.
The same applies to sentences expressing interdictions:
However, there are some nuances in these verbs in the passive voice. In this case, the use of ser or estar depends on the tense of the verb. E.g.: to say that somebody is not allowed to smoke, only estar can be used in the present tense:
In past tenses, both ser and estar can be used, conveying a different meaning:
Portuguese counts location as permanent and fundamental, and accordingly uses ser, or the more specific secondary copula ficar (to stay), from Latin FIGO, "to place/set":
With adjectives referring to beauty and the like, ser means "to be", and estar means "to look".
As in Spanish, the differentiation between "nature" and "state" makes sense when talking about the states of life and death: Está vivo (He is alive); Está morto (He is dead). Notice the important difference between ser morto (to be killed) and estar morto (to be dead):
Unlike Spanish loco, louco (mad) can be used with ser or estar, giving different connotations:
Ser is used with adjectives expressing:
Estar católico is used with the same sense as in Spanish:
Apart from this exception, due to its different meanings, estar cannot be used for nationality, gender, or intelligence, but one can say Estou abrasileirado (I have acquired Brazilian ways – state) or Estás americanizado (You have been Americanised – state). The same applies for the difference between É um homem "He is a man" and Está um homem, meaning, "He has grown up to be a man".
Ficar, apart from its use as "to stay", and the use mentioned above as a copula translated as "to be located", is extensively used for a change of state (sometimes quite sudden), being translated as "to get" or "to become":
The Catalan copulae developed as follows:
The last three forms of the first verb survive in modern Catalan. Ésser is considered the most standard, followed by ser and, distantly, esser.
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | ser / ésser | |||||
Past participle | estat / sigut / sét | |||||
Gerund | sent / essent | |||||
Person | jo | tu | ell | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | sóc | ets | és | som | sou | són |
Preterite | fui | fores | fou | fórem | fóreu | foren |
Imperfect | era | eres | era | érem | éreu | eren |
Future | seré | seràs | serà | serem | sereu | seran |
Conditional | ||||||
seria / fóra | series / fores | seria / fóra | seríem / fórem | seríeu / fóreu | serien / foren | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | sigui / siga | siguis / sigues | sigui / siga | siguem | sigueu | siguin / siguen |
Imperfect | fos | fossis | fos | fóssim / fóssem | fóssiu / fósseu | fossin / fossen |
Imperative | ||||||
sigues | sigueu / sigau |
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | estar | |||||
Past participle | estat | |||||
Gerund | estant | |||||
Person | jo | tu | ell | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | estic | estàs | està | estem / estam |
esteu / estau |
estan |
Preterite | estiguí | estigueres | estigué | estiguérem | estiguéreu | estigueren |
Imperfect | estava | estaves | estava | estàvem | estàveu | estaven |
Future | estaré | estaràs | estarà | estarem | estareu | estaran |
Conditional | ||||||
estaria | estaries | estaria | estaríem | estaríeu | estarien | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | estigui / estiga | estiguis / estigues | estigui / estiga | estiguem | estigueu | estiguin / estiguen |
Imperfect | estigués | estiguessis | estigués | estiguéssim / estiguéssem | estiguéssiu / estiguésseu | estiguessin / estiguessen |
Imperative | ||||||
estigues | estigueu / estigau |
In Catalan, ésser and estar work in a way intermediate between those of Italian and Portuguese. A complete description of its rules of usage is as follows:
This can be summed up in five simple rules:
"Animate objects" refers mainly to people, animals, and whatever is thought to be sentient (for example, a child playing with a doll will probably treat it as an animate object.)
In Occitan, which is closely related to Catalan, the copula is èsser or èstre.
The Italian copulae did not undergo the same development as in other languages, having preserved the Vulgar Latin forms essere and stare.
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | essere | |||||
Past participle | essuto (archaic) / stato (from stare) | |||||
Gerund | essendo | |||||
Person | io | tu | egli | noi | voi | essi |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | sono | sei | è | siamo | siete | sono |
Past historic | fui | fosti | fu | fummo | foste | furono |
Imperfect | ero | eri | era | eravamo | eravate | erano |
Future | sarò | sarai | sarà | saremo | sarete | saranno |
Conditional | ||||||
sarei | saresti | sarebbe | saremmo | sareste | sarebbero | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | sia | sia | sia | siamo | siate | siano |
Imperfect | fossi | fossi | fosse | fossimo | foste | fossero |
Imperative | ||||||
sii | siate |
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | stare | |||||
Past participle | stato | |||||
Gerund | stando | |||||
Person | io | tu | egli | noi | voi | essi |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | sto | stai | sta | stiamo | state | stanno |
Past historic | stetti | stesti | stetti | stemmo | steste | stettero |
Imperfect | stavo | stavi | stava | stavamo | stavate | stavano |
Future | starò | starai | starà | staremo | starete | staranno |
Conditional | ||||||
starei | staresti | starebbe | staremmo | stareste | starebbero | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | stia | stia | stia | stiamo | stiate | stiano |
Imperfect | stessi | stessi | stesse | stessimo | steste | stessero |
Imperative | ||||||
sta | state |
Essere is the main copula. Stare refers to state rather than essence, but more narrowly than in Spanish. Essere is used for almost all cases in which English uses "to be". It therefore makes sense to concentrate on the few uses of stare.
Like the Spanish quedar, Italian uses rimanere, from Latin REMANEO (both meaning "to remain"), in the sense of "to be as a result"; e.g. È rimasta incinta = "she became pregnant (as a result)".
The Sicilian copulae developed as follows:
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | siri | |||||
Past participle | statu | |||||
Gerund | sennu | |||||
Person | eu | tu | iddhu | nuiàvutri | vuiàvutri | iddhi |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | sugnu | sì | esti | simu | siti | sù |
Preterite | fui | fusti | fu | fumu | fùstivu | furu |
Imperfect | era | eri | era | èramu | èravu | èranu |
Conditional | ||||||
fora | fori | fora | fòramu | fòravu | fòranu | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present/Imperfect | fussi | fussi | fussi | fùssimu | fùssivu | fùssiru |
Imperative | ||||||
sì | siti |
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | stari | |||||
Past participle | statu | |||||
Gerund | stannu | |||||
Person | eu | tu | iddhu | nuiàvutri | vuiàvutri | iddhi |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | staiu | stai | sta | stamu | stati | stannu |
Preterite | stesi | stasti | stesi | stèsimu | stàsivu | stèsiru |
Imperfect | stava | stavi | stava | stàvamu | stàstivu | stàvanu |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present/Imperfect | stassi | stassi | stassi | stàssimu | stàssivu | stàssiru |
Imperative | ||||||
stai | stati |
Notes:
In Sicilian, the meanings and usages of these two copulae are not as broad as in the other languages. Siri is the dominant copula, even more so than in the other Romance languages and is used for almost all cases in which English uses “to be”. Stari has been relegated to only a few common uses:
Siri is no longer in use as an auxiliary verb. Aviri has completely replaced it in all verbs.
Modern French has only one copula. Old French, however, had estre (ESSE → essere → *essre → estre) and ester (STARE → *estare → estar → ester). The latter meant to ‘stand’, ‘stay’ or ‘stop’, and might have been used as a copula in a similar way to other Romance languages. With phonetic evolution, the forms of each verb tended to be confused with one another, with the result that estre finally absorbed ester; around the same time, most words beginning with est- changed to ét- or êt-. The modern form of the verb is être.
The only clear trace of ester (or éter if we bear in mind the loss of the s) in the modern copula is the past participle: instead of the *étu one would expect, we find été – just what we would expect from ester/éter. The same tendency to use past participles derived from STATVM (the supine of STO) to replace the past participles of the main copula is also seen in Italian and Catalan.
The present participle and all imperfect forms of être are regular and correspond to what one would expect for a verb with the stem êt-; however, they could also be considered as deriving from éter since the forms coincide.
All other forms of être are from SVM rather than STO.
Ester also survives in the infinitive in the set phrases ester en justice and ester en jugement, which translate the Latin term STARE IN IVDICIO meaning "to appear in court", "to stand before the court". Ester en justice has come to mean, "to file a lawsuit", i.e. to appear in court as the active party.
The English verb "to stay" comes directly from ester.
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | être | |||||
Past participle | été | |||||
Gerund | étant | |||||
Person | je | tu | il | nous | vous | ils |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | suis | es | est | sommes | êtes | sont |
Past historic† | fus | fus | fut | fûmes | fûtes | furent |
Imperfect | étais | étais | était | étions | étiez | étaient |
Future | serai | seras | sera | serons | serez | seront |
Conditional | ||||||
serais | serais | serait | serions | seriez | seraient | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | sois | sois | soit | soyons | soyez | soient |
Imperfect† | fusse | fusses | fût | fussions | fussiez | fussent |
Imperative | ||||||
sois | soyons | soyez |
† Literary.
Romansh has just one copula, esser. Star means, "to reside".
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | esser | |||||
Past participle | stà | |||||
Gerund | essend / siond | |||||
Person | jau | ti | el | nus | vus | els |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | sun | es | è | essan | essas | èn |
Imperfect | era | eras | era | eran | eras | eran |
Conditional | ||||||
fiss | fissas | fiss | fissan | fissas | fissan | |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | saja | sajas | saja | sajan | sajas | sajan |
Imperative | ||||||
saja | sajas |
A fi, fire is the copula in Romanian. These infinitive forms evolved from the verb FACIO, "to make":
FIERI was the passive infinitive of FACIO, and so meant "to be made". In the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken in modern day Romania, its evolved form fiere replaced essere, maybe due to the similarity between the stems fi- of FACIO and fu- of SVM. Other forms of the verb a fi are derived from SVM: sunt, ești, e(ste), suntem, sunteți, sunt in the present tense and eram, erai, era, eram, erați, erau in the imperfect.
A sta (STARE → sta) means "to stay" or even "to stand", "to stand still" or "to dwell/reside" e.g. a sta in picioare, as in Italian stare in piedi or unde stai? – "where do you live/reside?"
Non-finite | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | a fi, fire | |||||
Past participle | fost | |||||
Gerund | fiind | |||||
Person | eu | tu | el | noi | voi | ei |
Indicative | ||||||
Present | sunt | ești | e(ste) | suntem | sunteți | sunt |
Preterite | fusei / fui | fuseși / fuși | fuse / fu | fuserăm / furăm | fuserăți / furăți | fuseră / fură |
Imperfect | eram | erai | era | eram | erați | erau |
Pluperfect | fusesem | fuseseși | fusese | fuseserăm | fuseserăți | fuseseră |
Subjunctive | ||||||
Present | să fiu | să fii | să fie | să fim | să fiți | să fie |
Imperative | ||||||
fii | fiți |
Non-finite | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Present Infinitive | ESSE | Perfect Infinitive | FVISSE | ||||
Future participle | FVTVRVS | Future Infinitive | FORE (FVTVRVM ESSE) | ||||
Person | ego | tu | -† | nos | vos | -† | |
Indicative | |||||||
Present | SVM | ES | EST | SVMVS | ESTIS | SVNT | |
Perfect | FVI | FVISTI | FVIT | FVIMVS | FVISTIS | FVERVNT | |
Imperfect | ERAM | ERAS | ERAT | ERAMVS | ERATIS | ERANT | |
Pluperfect | FVERAM | FVERAS | FVERAT | FVERAMVS | FVERATIS | FVERANT | |
Future | ERO | ERIS | ERIT | ERIMVS | ERITIS | ERVNT | |
Future Perfect | FVERO | FVERIS | FVERIT | FVERIMVS | FVERITVS | FVERINT | |
Subjunctive | |||||||
Present | SIM | SIS | SIT | SIMVS | SITIS | SINT | |
Perfect | FVERIM | FVERIS | FVERIT | FVERIMVS | FVERITIS | FVERINT | |
Imperfect | ESSEM | ESSES | ESSET | ESSEMVS | ESSETIS | ESSENT | |
Pluperfect | FVISSEM | FVISSES | FVISSET | FVISSEMVS | FVISSETIS | FVISSENT | |
Imperative | |||||||
ES | ESTE |
Non-finite | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Present Infinitive | STARE | Perfect Infinitive | STETISSE | ||||
Present participle | STANS | Future participle | STATVRVS | ||||
Gerund | STANDVM | Supine | STATV(M) | ||||
Person | ego | tu | -† | nos | vos | -† | |
Indicative | |||||||
Present | STO | STAS | STAT | STAMVS | STATIS | STANT | |
Perfect | STETI | STETISTI | STETIT | STETIMVS | STETISTIS | STETERVNT | |
Imperfect | STABAM | STABAS | STABAT | STABAMVS | STABATIS | STABANT | |
Pluperfect | STETERAM | STETERAS | STETERAT | STETERAMVS | STETERATIS | STETERANT | |
Future | STABO | STABIS | STABIT | STABIMVS | STABITIS | STABVNT | |
Future Perfect | STETERO | STETERIS | STETERIT | STETERIMVS | STETERITIS | STETERINT | |
Subjunctive | |||||||
Present | STEM | STES | STET | STEMVS | STETIS | STENT | |
Perfect | STETERIM | STETERIS | STETERIT | STETERIMVS | STETERITIS | STETERINT | |
Imperfect | STAREM | STARES | STARET | STAREMVS | STARETIS | STARENT | |
Pluperfect | STETISSEM | STETISSES | STETISSET | STETISSEMVS | STETISSETIS | STETISSENT | |
Imperative | |||||||
STA | STATE |
† Demonstratives used when necessary.
For information on the morphological evolution of the Romance copula, see Romance verbs.