Lingoflysoy
- soyto be
“soy” — to be in Spanish. Verb, level A0, topic — verbs. The I-form of ser — to be by essence: origin, profession, character. Soy de Londres, soy médico. For states and locations Spanish reaches for the other linking verb, estar: estoy bien, estoy en casa. In a live sentence: “Soy de Rusia” — I'm from Russia. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 21 words in the set “verbs” in the Spanish course.
In short
| Written in Spanish | soy |
| Translation | to be |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
The I-form of ser — to be by essence: origin, profession, character. Soy de Londres, soy médico. For states and locations Spanish reaches for the other linking verb, estar: estoy bien, estoy en casa
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Soy de RusiaI'm from Russia
Nearby words: verbs
I want, I can, I am going, I know. The verb holds a sentence together: a few of the most frequent ones cover more everyday talk than a long list of nouns.
- quieroI wantFrom querer, which also means 'to love': te quiero is 'I love you', not 'I want you'
- irto goThe most irregular verb in Spanish: of the root almost nothing survives — voy, vas, va, vamos
- comerto eatIn Spain comer also means to have lunch on its own: comemos a las dos? — shall we have lunch at two?
- beberto drinkDrinking in the plain sense. Tomar is broader and politer: tomamos algo? — shall we get something?
- leerto readThe two e's in a row are said separately: leh-EHR. Una persona leída is a well-read person
- hablarto speakTo speak and to talk. Saying something specific is already decir: dice que sí — he says yes
- trabajarto workThe j is a throaty h: trah-bah-HAR. Working on something is trabajar en; working as something is trabajar de
- vivirto liveTo live somewhere and to be alive. Vivir en is to live in a place, vivir de is to live on something
- tenerto haveSpanish uses it for age, hunger and cold: tengo treinta años, tengo hambre, tengo frío
- haythere is / there areAn impersonal form: it changes for no person and no number — hay un café, hay dos cafés
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “verbs”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to be” in Spanish?
The I-form of ser — to be by essence: origin, profession, character. Soy de Londres, soy médico. For states and locations Spanish reaches for the other linking verb, estar: estoy bien, estoy en casa
- How do you say “to work” in Spanish?
The j is a throaty h: trah-bah-HAR. Working on something is trabajar en; working as something is trabajar de
- How do you say “to eat” in Spanish?
In Spain comer also means to have lunch on its own: comemos a las dos? — shall we have lunch at two?
- How do you say “there is / there are” in Spanish?
An impersonal form: it changes for no person and no number — hay un café, hay dos cafés
- How do you say “to speak” in Spanish?
To speak and to talk. Saying something specific is already decir: dice que sí — he says yes
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “to be” in Spanish?
«soy». In a live sentence: “Soy de Rusia” — I'm from Russia. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A0, from the set “verbs”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The I-form of ser — to be by essence: origin, profession, character. Soy de Londres, soy médico. For states and locations Spanish reaches for the other linking verb, estar: estoy bien, estoy en casa. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how this sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.