Quick answer
Estoy cansado. El banco está en la esquina.
I am tired. The bank is on the corner. Estar covers where things are and how they are at this moment.
The words of this lesson
A morning in a new city
You wake up in a hotel, you slept badly, and you need a pharmacy. Both sentences run on estar: estoy cansado and ¿dónde está la farmacia? The forms are estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están. Every one except estamos carries a written accent, and the stress falls on that last syllable — estoy, está.
Say the accent out loud in your head as you learn them. Writing esta without the accent turns the verb into the word "this".
Place first, feeling second
Location is the easiest half: every physical thing, person or building takes estar. El museo está cerca, estamos en la plaza, mis llaves están en la mesa. This holds even for things that never move: a cathedral has stood for 600 years and still says está en el centro.
The other half is condition — how someone or something is at this moment: estoy bien, está enfermo, la sopa está fría, la tienda está cerrada. Ask ¿cómo estás? for a mood and you get today’s answer, not a description of the person.
The question that decides
Before you choose, ask yourself: am I saying what this is, or how and where it is right now? What it is takes ser; how and where takes estar. Ana es alegre means she is a cheerful person; Ana está alegre means she is in a good mood today.
Some adjectives change meaning outright with the switch: es aburrido (he is boring) against está aburrido (he is bored), es listo (clever) against está listo (ready).
Where you are matters
In much of Latin America <span class="es-inline">¿cómo estás?</span> is often shortened to <span class="es-inline">¿cómo andas?</span> or <span class="es-inline">¿qué tal?</span>, and Colombia commonly greets with <span class="es-inline">¿cómo está de bien?</span>
Memory trick
Estar answers "where?" and "how right now?" — the answer could be different tomorrow.
A short dialogue
Typical mistakes
Soy cansado.
Estoy cansado.
Tiredness is a state of the moment, so it takes estar. Soy cansado would describe a permanently exhausting person.
El museo es en el centro.
El museo está en el centro.
Every physical location uses estar, even for buildings that never move.
Esta en la mesa.
Está en la mesa.
Without the accent esta means "this". The verb form always carries the accent on the last syllable.
Practice
Practise these estar — to be, right now
0/8 matched — tap a Spanish word, then its translation
Check yourself
Which sentence says "The bank is on the corner"?