Ser & Estar

In Portuguese, we distinguish between the verbs ser and estar, whereas in English, we use the verb to be for both.

We use ser for a permanent state and estar for something that can change.

For example, in English, we say I am at home and I am beautiful, whereas in Portuguese, we translate the first sentence to Estou em casa and the second to Sou bonito.

Likewise, one uses ser when talking about the date or time and estar when talking about the weather.
For example, to It's 9:30 in Portuguese, one says São 9:30. It is sunny becomes está ensolarado in this case.

The conjugation of verbs is irregular, and we have to learn it with exercises.