Ser Conjugation: Present & Future Tense

What Does Ser Mean?

Where are you from? What is your profession? What do you look like? In order to answer these and thousands of questions in Spanish, we need to use the verb ser (sehr; ‘to be’). This is normally the very first verb we learn in order to introduce ourselves and talk about nationality, profession, and loads of other subjects.

Ser is a special verb in the sense that it is quite different in every tense, but also because of its multiple meanings and uses. Let’s take a look at its conjugation first.

Present Simple of Ser

The verb ser is irregular in the present tense, which means we will need to learn every conjugation by heart. All of them, except for the second and third person singular, keep the s- from the stem. Let’s review how to conjugate ser in present simple tense with a helpful table:

Future of Ser

In opposition, the future tense conjugation of ser is regular, so it is probably easier to learn. When forming the future in Spanish we always take the infinitive (ser in this case) and add the endings that correspond to each person.

Meanings

The Spanish verb ser is used, in most cases, to refer to things or situations that are permanent or cannot change, in opposition to estar (meaning ‘to be’ as well), which is normally used for temporary situations. Therefore, we use ser in order to talk about nationality, professions, characteristics such as color or personality, among many others.

Let’s take a look at its most common uses: