But really, when would you ever need to say “They’re crazy” in Spanish? Very, very unlikely, right?
That might be true, but only because it’s unlikely doesn’t mean it may never happen
Imagine you’re on your plane, for some very logical yet mysterious reason, landed at the wrong airport and when you disembarked, you realised you were in Buenos Aires instead of Luton airport, UK. Everyone would be speaking Spanish and you might have to try and explain what happened to the bewildered ground crew. You could point at the pilot and the cabin crew and would have to say in Spanish “They are crazy!”…for not informing the passengers about which airport/continent the plane would land in.
And you’d be right. They are crazy!
In order to convey this perturbing condition of the pilot and crew to the incredulous ground staff, you would need simply two words in Spanish.
‘They are’ comes from the verb TO BE in English. The verb used in Spanish in this context is ESTAR.
ESTÁN (They are or They’re) * Please see back to a previous post explaining that ‘They are’ is sometimes SON in Spanish
And if the pilot were a female pilot and the cabin crew were all females too, you would have to use the FEMININE form of the adjective (describing word) ‘crazy’.
(LOCAS) (Crazy/Mad/Off their rockers…etc.
They’re crazy: ESTÁN LOCAS
Remember to listen and repeat to the audio recording to accustom your brain to hearing yourself speak the new language.
But enough of that ‘crazy’ touchdown you had on the wrong continent. (I admit that is VERY unlikely to happen).
When else would you be able to say “They are…” using ESTÁN?
Now for the fun!
Have a bit of fun and make up your own context behind each of the phrases below.
Apart from being a bit of fun, if you’ve got a bit of a creative mind, it will help to fix the vocabulary in your mind and will help with the recall of the construction in the future, in the unlikely event you would ever find yourself in the situation of your imaginary context!
ESTÁN BORRACHAS = They’re drunk (referring to females)
ESTÁN CANSADAS = They’re tired
ESTÁN PREOCUPADAS = They’re worried
¿ESTÁN EN LA CASA? = Are they worried?
¿ESTÁN EN LA TIENDA?
¿DÓNDE ESTÁN LAS CHICAS? = Where are the girls?
NO ESTÁN EN LA CASA. ESTÁN EN LA ESCUELA
= They aren’t at home, they’re at school.
NO ESTÁN EN LA TIENDA. ESTÁN EN PLAYA.
They aren’t in the shop. They’re at the beach
¿DÓNDE ESTÁN LAS BEBIDAS? = Where are the drinks?
NO ESTÁN EN LA MESA. ESTÁN EN LA COCINA.
They aren’t on the table. They’re in the kitchen
Patterns
Maybe you can start to see the pattern emerging about the use of ESTÁN to mean ‘They are’ or ‘ They’re’
ESTÁN = They are /They’re
As a question with upside down question marks ¿ESTÁN…? : Are they…?
And with NO, it becomes negative. NO ESTÁN… They are not/ They aren’t
To see the difference between the OTHER VERB ‘TO BE’ (SER) see
- Does Spanish sometimes seem just too fast to understand?
Some of my readers have shown an interest in listening to news items spoken in Spanish at a slower speed as normal. If anyone else would be interested in participating in a discounted price for News in Slow Spanish, please take a look at a previous post.
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the site, but I feel it could be very interesting for serious learners of Spanish. Take a look and see what you think.
Speak Out in Spanish! 