| Romance Copula |
Article Index for Romance |
Website Links For Romance |
Information AboutRomance Copula |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ROMANCE COPULA | |
| indo-european linguistics | |
| romance languages | |
|
See Copula for information on other languages, including English, particularly on syntax; see Indo-European Copula for further information on the historical paradigms. ''Notes on the use of Latin words:''
EVOLUTION OF MEANING In English, it is possible to say "there stands..." instead of "there is..." in certain contexts. In Latin too, it became common to eschew SVM in favour of STO and say where things "stood" instead of where they "were". With time, it became common to use this verb to express other states. Now, Castilian / Spanish , Galician / Portuguese , Catalan , and (to a lesser extent) Italian commonly use two copulae, one from each of the Latin verbs. The others use just one main copula, from SVM. There is also a notable tendency for a derivative of the supine of STO (STATVS, STATA, STATVM) to replace the past participle of verbs deriving from SVM (which in Latin had no supine). Examples:
In Castilian/Spanish ''See also Spanish Language , Spanish Grammar '' and '' Spanish Verbs ''. The Spanish copulae developed as follows:
If we look back to the early part of the second millennium, in texts such as the '' Cantar De Mio Cid '', ''ser'' was still used mostly as in Latin, and there was little place for ''estar''; we can see sentences like ''Es pagado, e davos su amor'', "He is satisfied, and he gives you his favour", where modern Spanish would have something like ''Queda contento,'' or ''Está satisfecho, y le da a usted su favor''. As the centuries went by, ''estar'' spread in use. Today, ''ser'' is used to express the fundamental nature, identity or characteristics of something — what it ''really is'', whilst ''estar'' expresses the state something ''happens to be in''. Indeed, ''ser'' is etymologically related to "essence" and "is", and ''estar'' with "state", "status", "standing", "stance" and "stay". The verb ''quedar'' (which also has the specific meanings of "to remain", "to be as a result" and others) is often used in a similar way to ''estar''. It derives from the Latin QVIETO (QVIETARE in the infinitive), "to rest". Nuance
With adjectives referring to beauty and the like, ''ser'' means "to be", and ''estar'' means "to look".
Note that the differentiation between "nature" and "state" makes sense when talking about the states of life and death: ''Está vivo'' (He is alive). ''Está muerto'' (He is dead). Note that ''estar'' is used for both alive and dead, since they are both states, although being dead is considered a permanent state. ''Ser'' is used when stating the stage of life at which a person is. The old, the young, etc are seen as groups that one can belong to. It is a question of identity:
However, age can also be presented not as a matter of identity but a state:
The use of ''estar'' gives a certain special nuance to some verbs. For example, ''estar guapa'', though it has the sense of "to be beautiful", also emphasizes the use of make-up and clothes to create a beautiful look. ''Ser sucio'' instead of the more usual ''estar sucio'' means to be the sort of person who is likely to be dirty. The adjective ''loco'' ("mad", "crazy", "insane") is always used with ''estar'' in Spain, as the implication is that the person "has gone mad" (i.e. a change of state). It is possible to give it a permanent nuance, but only by using it as a noun: ''es un loco'', "he's a madman". ''Ser loco'' is used in Latin America, however. The expression ''como una cabra'' (with the implied ''loco'' omitted) is used with ''estar'' to mean "mad as a hatter", "crazy as a loon". ''Ser como una cabra'' would literally mean "to be like a goat". ''Ser'' is used with adjectives of fundamental belief, nationality, sex, intelligence, etc. The use of ''estar'' with ''francés'' ("French") sounds quite odd to native Spanish speakers, as though it meant "to feel a bit French". Similarly, ''no estar católico'' does not mean "to no longer be Catholic", but is a colloquial expression meaning "to feel under the weather". Note how this is a state. People studying Spanish as a second language often believe that the difference between the two verbs is "permanent" versus "temporary", but in the Spanish mind, the difference is "essential nature" versus "state or condition". The "essential nature" of things does sometimes change, and this is reflected in the language. For example, someone who had been depressed for a prolonged period, and then had a life changing experience like a new career or long-term relationship, might say ''ahora soy feliz'', meaning "I am happy now". Specific interpretations requiring ''ser'' A special use of ''ser'', which expresses neither a nature nor a state but an action, is the formation of the passive voice:
Note that the Spanish passive voice is rarer than in English, with other turns of phrase being used instead. Specific interpretations requiring ''estar'' ;Past participles ''Estar'' is almost always used with adjectives that derive from past participles of verbs since the use of ''ser'' would sound like a verb in the passive voice. Such adjectives in any case generally refer to states:
A special example of this tendency is what happens with words indicating prohibition and suchlike. If an adjective not deriving from a verb were used, then the meaning would definitely require ''ser''. To say the same thing with a past participle, ''estar'' (or ''quedar'') is required, in order to differentiate it from the use of ''ser'' with a past participle implying an action expressed in the passive voice:
This fine nuance is not encountered in other Romance languages, which do not go to such lengths to distinguish between passives and similar-sounding phrases. ;Location ''Estar'' is used to refer to physical location. In the Spanish mind, location is a state, and therefore goes with ''estar'', even in those cases (e.g. ''Madrid está en España'' "Madrid is in Spain") when one might think that it is something so permanent and fundamental that it could be logical to use ''ser''. With immobile things, ''quedar'' is sometimes used instead of ''estar'', especially when there is a reference to a length of time, or a remaining distance, e.g.:
However, ''ser'' can sometimes occur with words such as ''aquí'', which can mislead learners into thinking that physical location can be expressed with ''ser''. In fact, the verb in this case identifies the place rather than expressing where it is. For example, one might say to a taxi driver the following phrases, to indicate that you have arrived:
The difference becomes clear if ''aquí'' is changed to ''esta calle'':
''Es aquí'' and ''es esta calle'' express the idea that "this is the place", a concept quite different from what is expressed by ''estar''. The only case in which true location is expressed by ''ser'' is when an event rather than a physical thing is referred to:
Words requiring ''ser'' ''Ser'' is always used when the complement is a noun or pronoun, regardless of whether the speaker intended to express a fundamental essence (though in practice they do tend to express this):
However, it is not always easy to know what is a noun. For example, ''pez'' is a noun meaning "fish", but ''estar pez'' is a colloquial expression meaning to be "rubbish" or "useless" at a given activity. Words requiring ''estar'' ''Estar'' must be used when the complement is ''bien'' or ''mal'', no matter what meaning is intended.
Total change of meaning with specific adjectives There are many adjectives that change in meaning entirely depending on the verb used, sometimes meaning almost the opposite. Note that in each case the meaning which is more of a "nature" goes with ''ser'' and the meaning which is more of a "state" goes with ''estar''. ;Happiness Although "sadness" is expressed fairly straightforwardly with ''triste'', "happiness" is a little trickier. The quality of being joyous, lively and happy is expressed with ''ser alegre''. This can describe people, music, colours, etc. ''Estar alegre'' expresses the state of being merry, often in practice actually meaning "drunk", "tipsy". A person who is fundamentally happy in life is said to ''ser feliz''; indeed ''la felicidad'' is that "happiness" that humans strive for. Although in the harsh real world this happiness often turns out to be a transitory state, a person may nevertheless declare ''soy feliz'' as a statement of optimism that goes beyond the description of today's mood that is expressed by any phrase with ''estar''. As for such moods, they can be expressed with ''estar feliz'', but this adjective is not really the appropriate one; ''estar contento'' is the better way of saying that one is at the present time feeling happy, content or glad. When not a state but a change of state is referred to, the expression is ''quedar contento'' or ''alegrarse'': ''quedó muy contenta cuando le dije que había ganado'' = "she was very glad when I told her she had won"; ''me alegro de que hayáis llegado'' = "I'm glad you've all come". In the extract from the ''Cantar de Mio Cid'' above, one can see that "to be happy" a thousand years ago was ''ser pagado''. In Catalan The Catalan copulae developed as follows:
The last three forms of the first verb survive in modern Catalan. ''Ser'' is considered the most standard, followed by ''ésser'', then ''esser''. The distinction between the two copulae is very similar to the distinction in Spanish, with the following exceptions, amongst others:
In French
The present participle and all imperfect forms of ''être'' are regular and correspond to what one would expect for a verb with the stem ''êt-''; however, they could also be considered as deriving from ''éter'' since the forms coincide. All other forms of ''être'' are from SVM rather than STO. ''Ester'' also survives in the infinitive in the set phrases ''ester en justice'' and ''ester en jugement'', which translate the Latin term STARE IN IVDICIO meaning "to appear in court", "to stand before the court". ''Ester en justice'' has come to mean "to file a lawsuit", i.e. to appear in court as the active party. The English verb "to stay" comes directly from ''ester''. In Provençal , the copula is ''èsser'' or ''èstre''. In Haitian , no word at all, (whose position we will indicate with a placeholder "_", just for purposes of illustration). Although no textual record exists of Haitian at its earliest stages of development from French, ''se'' is obviously derived from French ''c'est'' ( IPA {Link without Title} ), which is the normal French contraction of ''ce'' (it) and the copula ''est'' (third-person singular of the present indicative of the verb ''être'', ultimately from SVM). The derivation of ''ye'' is less obvious; but we can assume that the French source was ''il est'' ("he/it is"), which, in rapidly spoken French, is very commonly pronounced as ''y est'' (IPA {Link without Title} ). The use of a zero copula is unknown in French, and it is thought to be an innovation from the early days when Haitian was first developing as a Romance-based Pidgin . Coincidentally, Latin also sometimes used a zero copula. There appears to be no trace of STO. =Distinction between ''se'', ''ye'' and zero copula Which of ''se''/''ye''/_ is used in any given copula clause depends on complex syntactic factors that we can superficially summarize in these four rules: First: Use _ (i.e., no word at all) in declarative sentences where the complement is an adjective phrase, prepositional phrase, or adverb phrase:
Third: Use ''se'' where English or French have a " Dummy-it " subject:
And finally: use the other copula form, ''ye'', in situations where the sentence's syntax leaves the copula at the end of a phrase:
The above is, however, only a superficial analysis. For more details on the syntactic conditions as well as on Haitian-specific copula constructions such as ''se kouri m ap kouri'' (It's run I ''progressive'' run; "I'm really running!"), see the grammar sketch in Catherine Howe's ''Haitian Creole Newspaper Reader'' (which is the source for most of the Haitian data in this article), and see also Valdman & Philippe's textbook ''Ann Pale Kreyol: An Introductory Course in Haitian Creole''. In Italian The Italian copulae did not undergo the same development as in other languages, and conserve the Vulgar Latin forms ''essere'' and ''stare''. ''Essere'' is the main copula. ''Stare'' refers to state rather than essence, but more narrowly than in Spanish. ''Essere'' is used for almost all cases in which English uses "to be". It therefore makes sense to concentrate on the few uses of ''stare''.
Like the Spanish ''quedar'', Italian uses ''rimanere'' (to remain) in the sense of "to be as a result" (e.g. ''È rimasta incinta'' = "she became pregnant (as a result)"). In Portuguese The Portuguese copulae developed as in Spanish:
The Portuguese distinction between the two verbs is very similar to Catalan. Compared to Spanish, ''estar'' is a little less used. There is perhaps a little more of a concept of permanent versus temporary, rather than essence versus state. The main difference between Spanish and Portuguese is that Portuguese is in the interpretation of the concept of state versus essence and in the generalisations one way or another that are made in certain constructions. For example, Portuguese does not require ''estar'' with past participles; in this case it follows the general rule regarding state/essence.
The word meaning "made" is in square brackets here, as it possible to omit it. The equivalent Spanish phrase would have to switch to the use of ''estar'' if this word were included.
The same applies in sentences such as the following, which use ''ser'' for the passive voice, with no special exceptions for prohibitions and the like:
Portuguese counts location as something fundamental, and accordingly uses ''ser'', or the specific verb ''ficar'':
Nuance
With adjectives referring to beauty and the like, ''ser'' means "to be", and ''estar'' means "to look".
As in Spanish, the differentiation between "nature" and "state" makes sense when talking about the states of life and death: ''Está vivo'' (He is alive). ''Está morto'' (He is dead). Unlike Spanish, ''louco'' (''loco'' in Spanish) can be used with "ser" or "estar", giving different meanings:
''Ser'' is used with adjectives of fundamental belief (''Não sou católico'', I'm not Catholic), nationality (''És português'', You are Portuguese), sex (''É homem'', He's a man), intelligence (''Somos espertos'', We are smart), etc. Due to Catholicism being the main religion in most Lusophone countries, so it is very common, not being Catholic is unusual. Then the use of ''católico'' (Catholic) with ''estar'' has another meaning (figurative):
With this exception, due to its different meaning, ''estar'' can not be used for nationality, sex, or intelligence, but one can say ''Estou abrasileirado'' (I'm Brazilian-influenced — state) or ''Estás americanizado'' (You are Americanised — state). In Romanian ''A fi, fire'' is the copula in Romanian . It evolved like this:
FIERI was the passive infinitive of "facere", to make, and so meant "to be made". In the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken in modern day Romania, its evolved form ''fiere'' replaced ''essere'', maybe due to the similarity between the stem ''fi-'' of ''fiere'' and ''fu-'' of ''essere''. In Romansh ''Esser'' means "to be", and ''Star'' is "to reside". CONJUGATION Here, only simple, one-word forms are given. All languages below also possess numerous compound tenses. In Latin ;SVM
;STO
In Castilian/Spanish ;SER ;ESTAR † ''Estar'' is usually made reflexive in the imperative. In Catalan ;SER/ÉSSER
;ESTAR
In French ;ÊTRE
In Italian ;ESSERE
;STARE
In Portuguese ;SER
;ESTAR
In Romanian ;FI
In Romansh ;ESSER
;STAR SEE ALSO
FURTHER READING ; PDF documents, mainly on the Spanish copula:
|
|
|