to be (have a temporary or permanent location in space); to be present; to be (denotes a copula, in a transient fashion); to be (auxiliary verb for the progressive/continuous aspect, preceding the gerund of the verb); to be in a state (in a passive voice sense)
“¿Dónde estás?” — Where are you?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *sth₂éh₁yeti Proto-Italic *staējō Proto-Italic *staēō Latin stō, stare Old Spanish estar Spanish estar Inherited from Old Spanish estar, from Latin stō, stare. Compare English stand. The preterite's origin is unclear, most likely generalized from the preterite of haber (“to have”), hub- (note that b and v are pronounced identically; compare the same