01 · The greeting that starts every conversation
¿Cómo estás?
How are you?
Estás, not eres — this is about how you're doing right now, not who you are.
andbefluent.com/spanish/shooting-estar
Shooting Estar
The present tense of estar — where you are, how you feel — said out loud.
Estar conjugates estoy, estás, está, estamos, están — and the tú, él and ellos forms carry a written accent you can't drop. It does two jobs: where something is (estoy en casa) and how someone is right now — feelings, states and health (estoy cansado, está feliz, estoy bien). Add a gerund for what's happening this second: estoy comiendo. What estar never does is say who someone is — that's ser.
Below: the forms laid out, the accent and ser/estar mistakes that trip beginners up, and a way to say estar out loud in a real check-in — no drills, no worksheets.
The warm-up pack
Where you are and how you're doing right now — said out loud, not conjugated on paper.
01 · The greeting that starts every conversation
¿Cómo estás?
How are you?
Estás, not eres — this is about how you're doing right now, not who you are.
02 · The reflex answer
Estoy bien, ¿y tú?
I'm fine, and you?
Answer and hand the question back — that's the whole exchange, every time.
03 · Finding what you need
¿Dónde está el baño, por favor?
Where is the bathroom, please?
Estar for location. This exact question gets used constantly — worth having ready.
04 · Saying how the day actually went
Hoy estoy muy cansado.
Today I'm very tired.
A temporary state, not a permanent trait — that's exactly what estar is for.
05 · Telling someone where you are
Estamos en el café de la esquina.
We're at the café on the corner.
Estar for location again — swap in any place and it's true.
06 · What you're doing right now
Estoy aprendiendo español.
I'm learning Spanish.
Estar + -ando/-iendo is how Spanish says something's happening in this moment.
07 · Being specific about where
Estoy en la cocina.
I'm in the kitchen.
Same estar, any room — en la cocina, en el baño, en el carro.
08 · When someone's under the weather
Ella está enferma.
She is sick.
Health status is always estar, never ser — even for something serious.
09 · Naming the feeling
Estoy feliz.
I am happy.
Feelings come and go, so they take estar — that's the whole logic in one word.
10 · Checking on someone
Tú estás preocupado.
You are worried.
Said to a friend, this is what noticing actually sounds like.
11 · Describing what's happening around you
Ellos están trabajando ahora.
They are working now.
The gerundio again, this time on someone else — the pattern doesn't change with the subject.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/shooting-estarRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Carla
Your grammar teacher for this pack
No worksheets, nothing to conjugate on paper — in the Shooting Estar lessons you speak, and Carla opens with the two questions estar was built for: ¿cómo estás? and ¿dónde estás?. You answer in full sentences (estoy en el café, estoy un poco cansado). Then she asks how you feel today, three ways (estoy feliz, estoy nervioso, estoy tranquilo), and finally what you're doing right now (estoy hablando, estoy aprendiendo español) — every form out loud, accents and all, until estar stops feeling irregular.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 8 lessons and Shooting Estar is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
estoy (I am), estás (you are), está (he/she/it is), estamos (we are), están (they / you all are). It's irregular — the yo form ends in -oy, and estás, está, están all take a written accent.
Use estar for location and for how something is right now — a temporary state, feeling or health (estoy en casa, estoy cansado, está enferma). Use ser for identity: who or what someone is by nature (soy profesora, es alto). Rule of thumb: place and mood → estar; identity → ser.
The accent on estás and está marks the stressed syllable — and it's not optional. Dropping it changes the word: esta (no accent) means "this," while está means "he/she is." The tú, él and ellos forms always carry it.
Estar + an adjective that agrees in gender and number: estoy feliz, ella está nerviosa, estamos emocionados, ellos están tranquilos. Feelings are temporary, so they always take estar — never soy feliz for how you feel today.
Use estar + the gerund (-ando / -iendo): estoy comiendo (I am eating), tú estás hablando (you are talking), ella está leyendo (she is reading). It describes what's happening at this exact moment.