8. The senders are trying to throw the blame on (a) the Railway Company,
but we have no right of claim (derecho de reclamar) against the latter
(esta); it is they who (son ellos quienes) must indemnify us for the
loss.

9. It is a well-founded (bien establecida) and respectable firm and they
will not deny their responsibility--there is no doubt about (de) that.

10. Is it long since you received their last (ultima) letter?

11. Have they been long established? (Hace mucho tiempo que....)

12. They have been for 15 years.

13. Our friends have large stocks but they say the market is looking up
(mejorando).

LESSON XVII.
(Leccion decima septima.)

"SER" AND "ESTAR."

=Ser= is used as a true auxiliary, when it forms the passive voice.

=Estar= is an auxiliary when it forms the progressive tenses, as

Estoy escribiendo (I am writing).
Estaba escribiendo (he was writing).

The difficulty in the employment of _ser_ and _estar_ is, by some,
unduly magnified. Others give the following rule--

_Ser_ denotes a permanent state.
_Estar_ "temporary"

This rule should not be adopted because often it would not apply, as the
following two examples will show--

El es soldado porque se ha alistado por dos anos: He is a soldier as he
has enlisted for two years.

Aquellos montes estan eternamente cubiertos de nieve: Those mountains
are perpetually covered with snow.

The following simple and true rules will enable the student to
understand the difference between _ser_ and _estar_ and to apply them
correctly.

_Ser_ is used--

1. To form the Passive Voice, as--

El cartero trajo las cartas--_Active_: The postman brought the letters.

La carta fue traida[114] por el cartero--_Passive[115]_: The letter was
brought by the postman.

[Footnote 114: The Past Part. following "Ser" and "Estar" agrees in
gender and number with the subject of these verbs.]

[Footnote 115: Este cuarto es barrido todos los dias (this room is swept
every day) is passive voice, because we speak of the _action_ of sweeping,
viz., somebody sweeps the room every day. Este cuarto esta barrido--no
voice; "barrido" is used as an adjective to denote _state_ or
_condition_.]

2. To denote an inherent[116] quality, as--

La nieve es blanca: Snow is white.
El hombre es mortal: Man is mortal.

[Footnote 116: Inherence = a fixed state of being in another bod