21 Comments This discussion is locked.
Could this also be translated "My aunt is single."? or would that be "Mi tía es sola."?
"Single" as in "not dating" is soltero/soltera. Sola usually only means alone or by yourself.
It's not easy for us learners. (For native speakers, it's natural). Here's a start:
In Spanish, there is a difference when using estar (of which está is third-person singular present indicative form) and ser (which would be "es" in this specific case). Although they both mean "to be", the particulars are not as simple but you could say that ser is used when referring to permanent conditions and estar when referring to a temporary, actual conditions. When you say "Mi tía está sola" it means she is alone right now but probably wasn't always or won't be in a few moments.
"Mi tía está sola." Translation: My aunt is alone. "Mi tía es sola." Translation: My aunt is forever alone.
Austin, in Spanish there is another similar word - "ésta" that means "this".. Èsta es una casa, ( this is a house.). Then, we have ´"está" ( verb) and "ésta"( demonstrative pronoun).
why not mi tía es sola? why está? please explain, so i might also understand estoy, and so on :), muchas gracias
