Soy not estoy?

Nina A.C1Kwiziq community member

Soy not estoy?

Why is it soy cinturón verde and not estoy cinturón verde?  as being a green belt wouldn't be a permanent position.

Asked 3 years ago
Christine B.C1Kwiziq community member

I thought the same thing.

 

InmaKwiziq team member

Hola Nina y Chrsitine

Interesting question!! 

To be honest there is no straight forward answer to justify the use of "ser" here. I can only say that I see this as "description" in a similar way to when we describe our personality or we say what we do for a living: Soy estudiante, soy una excelente profesora,... - the fact that these may be temporary states doesn't matter so much. This, for me, is talking about identity. You are identifying yourself somehow, the same way we do with professions. 

Soy estudiante. Soy profesora. Soy cinturón verde. Soy la ganadora del concurso. 

This is all giving some kind of identity to a person. 

I hope it makes sense. 

Saludos

Inma

Nina A.C1Kwiziq community member

Thank you.  I can understand the reasoning behind that. :-) 

Tony B.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I gave up using “permanence” as a guide the moment I came across “está muerto” !  Now I use “identity” and “state”.

Soy not estoy?

Why is it soy cinturón verde and not estoy cinturón verde?  as being a green belt wouldn't be a permanent position.

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Let me take a look at that...