¿Estáis bien? Are you (guys) Okay?

Sometimes Spanish can be a bit tricky, but only if it’s not following the same pattern as your native language.

It really isn’t tricky at all for Spanish speaking people, so at least that has to be a bit encouraging.

Imagine you are talking to two people or maybe six people. Imagine they’re your family or friends.

Imagine you’re addressing a crowd of two hundred thousand people and you want them to feel they are close to you, as if they were your friends.

Pretty scary, really.

and you want to ask t how they are doing.

 

ESTÁIS

ESTÁIS means You are or Are you…? if in a question. Place a simple NO  in front –NO ESTÁIS – and there you have: You aren’t or aren’t you? if in a question.

The only difference is, as mentioned above, ESTÁIS is used for addressing more than one person, which is the part that makes it a little tricky for native English speakers, unaccustomed to this difference. But hey…if it were

How easy is that?

¿CÓMO ESTÁIS?    How are you? (addressing two or more people)

¿ESTÁIS BIEN?       Are you well? (addressing two or more people)

 

The important point to remember is that, as  opposed to English, in Spanish, we use a different form of the verb when addressing one person directly, or two and more ( even 2 thousand) people directly.

In a previous post we looked at how to address one person, using the verb ESTAR :Are you tired?

for the difference between ESTÁIS and ESTÁS.

You could take a quick look to refresh memory on this point.

But in this post we’re are looking at how to use the same verb (ESTAR) when addressing 2 or more people.

(Sometimes in English we say Are you (PEOPLE) tired? or Are you (GUYS) OK? when we want to clarify we are speaking to a group as a whole.)

Imagine the scenario: You have 2 daughters and it’s getting near bed-time. You  may need to ask them:  ARE YOU TIRED? (Referring to BOTH  children)

¿ESTÁIS CANSADAS?

Remember to listen to the recordings and repeat the words or phrases as many times as possible.

The more often you repeat the words and phrases from the audio recordings, you will accustom yourself to hearing your voice in Spanish.

Imagine you have planned to go out with some friends one evening but they both make excuses. You could say: ARE YOU ILL? referring to them both.

• Are you (both) ill?

¿ESTÁIS ENFERMAS?

Imagine….imagine…..imagine all types of scenarios where you may have to address two or more people asking : ARE YOU……?

It’s quite a challenge to suggest to readers the myriad of situations any language construction could be needed…

Let’s take our imagination skills for granted and just concentrate on the basic use of ESTÁIS. 

NOTE: All the examples I use are imagining the people being addressed are female.  For addressing males simply change the AS ending of the adjectives to OS

• Are you (people) angry ?

¿ESTÁIS ENFADADAS?

 

• Are you busy?

¿ESTÁIS OCUPADAS?

• Are you bored?

¿ESTÁIS ABURRIDAS?

Vocabulary: Adjectives in the plural feminine form.

CANSADAS: tired

ENFERMAS: ill

ENFADADAS: angry

OCUPADAS: busy

ABURRIDAS: bored

Revision Time

Eres: How and when to use ‘Eres’ Spanish verb SER (to be)  

SOIS: How and When to use ‘Sois’: Spanish verb Ser (to be)

ESTÁS:  How and when to use ESTÁS: spanish verb Estar (to be)

I really hope this helps.

Please share with someone you think might be interested in this article.

Let me know how I could help you  in your Spanish journey, by leaving a comment below.