1879: Ser and Estar Dichotomy Feb 6, 2020

There are lots of dichotomies that English only has semantically, which other languages have lexically. One is 'no' for an exclamation and a determiner, while German has 'nein' and 'kein' respectively. Another is in Spanish with the distinction between 'ser' and 'estar', both translating as 'to be' but with the former relating to permanent, or little-changing descriptions including names and nationalities, and the latter used for more transient things, like actions or personal locations. In some languages or dialects, there is a lack of any verb where 'estar' is used.

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