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SPANISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

ser.

to be (essentially or identified as)

3 characters1 syllables approx.Español language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈseɾ/[ˈseɾ]

  1. to be (essentially or identified as)

    copulative
    Yo soy de los Estados Unidos.
    Errar es humano.

  2. to be (in the passive voice sense)

    auxiliary
    La guitarra fue tocada.

  3. to exist; to occur

    impersonal
    La fiesta será mañana.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt Proto-Italic *ezom~*som Archaic Latin 𐌄𐌔𐌏𐌌 (esom) Old Latin esum Latin sum, esse Early Medieval Latin essere Old Spanish seerinflu. Spanish eser Spanish ser From Early Medieval Latin essere, from Latin esse. The form sois pl (“you are”) derives from a Vulgar Latin *sutis. Along the way, the verb absorbed Old Spanish seer < Latin sedēre (“sit”). The present subjunctive may either be from the latter verb (Latin sedeām > Old Spanish *seya > modern Spanish sea) or from esse's present subjunctive extended with the Latin third conjugation present subjunctive endings (Latin sī- + -ām = *sīām > modern Spanish sea).

noun/ˈseɾ/[ˈseɾ]

  1. a being, organism

    masculine

  2. nature, essence

    masculine

  3. value, worth

    masculine
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt Proto-Italic *ezom~*som Archaic Latin 𐌄𐌔𐌏𐌌 (esom) Old Latin esum Latin sum, esse Early Medieval Latin essere Old Spanish seerinflu. Spanish eser Spanish ser From Early Medieval Latin essere, from Latin esse. The form sois pl (“you are”) derives from a Vulgar Latin *sutis. Along the way, the verb absorbed Old Spanish seer < Latin sedēre (“sit”). The present subjunctive may either be from the latter verb (Latin sedeām > Old Spanish *seya > modern Spanish sea) or from esse's present subjunctive extended with the Latin third conjugation present subjunctive endings (Latin sī- + -ām = *sīām > modern Spanish sea).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.