In Italian *essere* covers almost everything — identity, qualities, location, moods — while *stare* is confined to three areas: health (*come stai?*), the progressive with the gerund (*sto mangiando*), and a set of fixed expressions (*stare attento*, *stare zitto*).
What stare actually covers
Health and how you feel physically: come stai? Sto bene, grazie. Essere doesn't go here.
The progressive: stare + gerund says the action is happening now. *Sto leggendo, stavamo uscendo*. This is by far the most frequent use.
Fixed expressions: stare attento (to be careful), stare zitto (to keep quiet), stare fermo, stare tranquillo, stare insieme. Learn them as blocks; they can't be derived.
Everything else is essere
Identity and qualities: *sono inglese, la casa è grande, è tardi*.
Location: *sono a Roma, il libro è sul tavolo*. This is where most errors happen, because the other Romance languages hand location to the other verb.
Moods, including passing ones: *sono stanco, sono felice, sono arrabbiato*. Italian has no permanent-versus-temporary split of the kind that governs the choice in Spanish.
The trap for Spanish speakers
Stare looks like estar but doesn't translate it. Estoy en Roma is *sono a Roma, not sto a Roma; estoy cansado is sono stanco, not sto stanco*.
The working rule: wherever Spanish would use estar for a place or a mood, Italian uses essere. Stare survives only for the gerund, health and fixed phrases.
In southern Italy you'll hear sto a Roma in regional speech. It's living Italian, but it isn't the standard: in an exam or in writing, use sono.
Related questions
Is it sto bene or sono bene?
*Sto bene*. For health and physical wellbeing the verb is always *stare*, never *essere*.
How do you say I am eating in Italian?
*Sto mangiando* — *stare* plus the gerund. It's the only way to build the progressive in Italian.
Updated 2026-07-29