vosotros hayáis llegado = "I am glad that you (plural) have come". In the excerpt from the Cantar de Mio Cid above, one can see that "to be happy" a thousand years ago was ser pagado (meaning "to be paid" in current Spanish). Portuguese Portuguese copulas The Portuguese copulas are ser and estar. As in Spanish, estar derived from Latin / : → *estare → estar The copula ser developed both from and . Thus its inflectional paradigm is a combination of these two Latin verbs: most tenses derive from and a few from . E.g. derivation from : → seer → ser (infinitive) → seja (1st person singular, present tense, subjunctive mood) E.g. derivation from : → som → sou (1st pers. sing., present tense, indicative mood) → era (1st pers. sing., imperfect past tense, indicative mood) → fui (1st pers. sing., preterite tense, indicative mood) Ser Estar † Mostly literary. †† Some authors regard the conditional as a tense of the indicative mood. Usage The distinction between the two verbs is very similar to that of Catalan. Compared to Spanish, estar is a little less used. The main difference between Spanish and Portuguese lies in the interpretation of the concept of state versus essence and in the generalisations in some constructions. There is perhaps a little more of a concept of permanent versus temporary, rather than essence versus state. For example, unlike Spanish, Portuguese does not require estar with past participles; in this case, it follows the general rule regarding state/essence. A cadeira é [feita] de madeira = "The chair is made of wood". The word feita, "made", is usually omitted. Eu sou casado = "I am married". The same applies to sentences expressing interdictions: É proibido fumar neste voo "Smoking is forbidden on this flight". However, there are some nuances in these verbs in the passive voice. In this case, the use of ser or estar depends on the tense of the verb. E.g.: to say that somebody is not allowed to smoke, only estar can be used in the present tense: Está proibido de fumar [pelo pai] = "He has been forbidden from smoking [by his father]"; literally "He is forbidden to smoke [by the father]". In past tenses, both ser and estar can be used, conveying a different meaning: Foi proibido de fumar = "He was forbidden from smoking" [action]. Estava proibido de fumar =