ésser

See also: esser and èsser

Catalan

Alternative forms

• esse, esser, ser

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Catalan ésser from Early Medieval Latin essere, which derived from Latin esse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [ˈe̞.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Central) [ˈe.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈe.seɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [ˈe.se]

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

ésser (first-person singular present soc, first-person singular preterite fui, past participle estat or sigut); root stress: (Northern) /e̞/; (Balearic, Central, Northwestern, Valencia) /e/

1. (copulative) to be
2. to exist, to be real, to be reality

Usage notes

• Ésser in the sense of "to be" is used for a characteristic of a person or object. See also: estar.

  Soc britànic, és catalana. ― I'm British, she's Catalan.

  L'or és groc. ― Gold is yellow.

• Ésser + past participle forms the passive voice.

  Era pagat per la Generalitat. ― I was paid by the Generalitat.

Conjugation

    Central Catalan conjugation of ésser (second conjugation, irregular)

infinitive			ésser
gerund			sent, essent
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		estat, sigut		estada, siguda
		plural		estats, siguts		estades, sigudes
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	soc	ets	és	som	sou	són
	imperfect	era	eres	era	érem	éreu	eren
	future	seré	seràs	serà	serem	sereu	seran
	preterite	fui	fores	fou	fórem	fóreu	foren
	conditional	seria, fora	series, fores	seria, fora	seríem, fórem	seríeu, fóreu	serien, foren
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	sigui	siguis	sigui	siguem	sigueu	siguin
	imperfect	fos	fossis	fos	fóssim	fóssiu	fossin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	sigues	sigui	siguem	sigueu	siguin
	negative (no)	—	no siguis	no sigui	no siguem	no sigueu	no siguin

Etymology 2

Nominalization of Etymology 1.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [ˈe̞.sər]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) unknown
• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈe.sər]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈe.ser]

Noun

ésser m (plural éssers)

1. being (a living creature)

Derived terms

• ésser humà

Further reading

• “ésser”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “ésser”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “ésser” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “ésser”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Old Catalan

Alternative forms

• esser, ser

Etymology

Inherited from Early Medieval Latin essere

Verb

ésser

1. to be
   • 1460-1465, Joanot Martorell, Tirant lo Blanch:

     [...] e en aço ſe moſtra la voſtra excelſa condicio eſſer mes angelica que humana.

     And in this your excellent condition shows to be more angelic than human.

2. to exist

Conjugation

    Conjugation of ésser

infinitive				ésser
gerund				essent
past participle				singular		plural
		masculine		estat		estats
		feminine		estada		estades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell ella	nós nosaltres	vós vosaltres	ells elles
simple tenses	present	som só sóc	ets	és	soms	sots sou	són
	imperfect	era	eres	era	érem	érets éreu	eren
	preterite	fui	fuist fost fores	fo fon fonch fou	fom fórem	fos fórets fóreu	foren
	future	seré	seràs	serà	serem	serets sereu	seran
	conditional	seria fóra	series fóres	seria fóra	seríem fórem	seríets seríeu fórets fóreu	serien foren
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell ella	nós nosaltres	vós vosaltres	ells elles
simple tenses	present	sia siga	sies sigues	sia siga	siam sigam	siats siau sigats sigau	sien siguen
	imperfect (-s)	fos	fosses	fos	fóssem	fóssets fosseu	fossen
	imperfect (-ra)	fora	fores	fora	fórem	fórets fóreu	foren
imperative		—	tu	—	nós nosaltres	vós vosaltres	—
present		—	sies sigues	—	—	siats siau sigats sigau	—

Descendants

• Catalan: ésser