‘Bueno‘ and ‘bien‘ are two totally different words but they can be tricky characters, purely because we don’t always use English properly and therefore it can be hard to make a choice between the two.
In a nutshell, ‘bueno‘ translates as ‘good‘ and ‘bien‘ translates as ‘well/fine/OK/properly‘. If you keep that in mind, you won’t go far wrong.
The difficulty lies when we want to say something ‘is good‘. It can be hard to decide if we need to use ‘bueno‘ or ‘bien‘ because in English, we use ‘good‘ so much and often it could (and often in Spanish should) be replaced with ‘well/fine/OK‘
Read on to find out how to choose between this troublesome duo and how to make the choice when saying something ‘is good‘
A simple explanation for ‘bueno’
‘Bueno‘ is a describing word (an adjective) and it means good.
You need to consider gender and number when using this adjective… buen(o)/buena/buenos/buenas.
‘Bueno‘ is usually used after SER to comment on the fact that something ‘is good‘.
Some examples:
We can get too used to seeing examples in the present tense only, which makes it harder to make your choice between ‘bueno‘ and ‘bien‘ in different tenses. Therefore, here are some examples in different time frames:
| Milk is good for your teeth (the teeth) La leche es buena para los dientes. |
| It would be good to finish your work first. Sería bueno terminar tu trabajo primero. |
| He’s a good man. Es un buen hombre. (Note that ‘bueno’ drops the ‘o‘ when placed in front of a singular, masculine noun.) |
| It’s a good sample of his work. Es una buena muestra de su trabajo. |
As noted previously, if you are saying something is ‘good‘, you’ll usually find that ‘bueno‘ is used with SER, however, it is also used with ESTAR to mean someone is ‘currently looking good‘ (AKA hot) and to comment on the food you are CURRENTLY eating (not as a general comment about a type of food).
Therefore, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you only ever see ‘bueno‘ with SER.
Here’s the difference:
| The paella is good tonight. La paella está buena esta noche. (This is a comment on the food you are currently eating, so we use ‘ESTAR‘) | The paella in that restaurante is good. La paella en ese restaurante es buena. (This is a comment on how the food always is in that restaurant, it’s natural characteristic, and so we use ‘SER‘ |
| She is looking good/hot tonight. Está buena esta noche. (This is a comment on the fact that she looks good now (not necessarily a comment on her as a person in general) so we use ‘ESTAR‘) | She is good. Es buena. (This is a comment the fact that she is a good person. It’s her natural characteristic, and so we use ‘SER‘ |
A simple explanation for ‘bien’
‘Bien‘ is often used with ESTAR but it is also used with other verbs because it has quite a few translations, including:
- Fine
- OK
- Well
- Properly
We should never use ‘bien‘ with SER apart from on one occasion… when it means ‘very’, rather than ‘good’.
For example:
- This game is very difficult. (Well difficult.)
- Este juego es bien difícil.
Here are some typical examples of ‘bien‘, used with ESTAR:
| I’m well, thanks. Estoy bien, gracias. |
| It will be OK. Don’t worry. Estará bien. No te preocupes. |
| Everything is fine. Todo está bien. |
| How was it?… It was OK thanks.* ¿Cómo estuvo?… Estuvo bien, gracias. |
*Note that with some of these examples, you could translate them as either fine, OK or well and it would not change the meaning. In English it wouldn’t be unheard of to say ‘good‘ as well, which is where the confusion lies.
For example:
- Estoy bien.
- I’m well/fine/OK/good
- Todo está bien.
- Everything is fine/OK/good.
Due to the fact that in English we use ‘good‘ so much, it would be easy to think that we should use ‘estoy bueno’ or ‘todo está bueno’ but that wouldn’t be right here. Remember that we would usually see ‘está bueno‘ when we are commenting on the food we are currently eating or to say someone is ‘looking good (hot) at the minute‘.
So how do you know that it should be ‘estoy bien‘ and ‘todo está bien‘ when in English we might say ‘I am good‘ or ‘everything is good‘?
Well… ask yourself, could I replace the ‘good‘ with ‘OK‘ or ‘fine‘ and in some cases ‘well‘ and the meaning is the same? If so, go with ‘estar bien‘
What about when we are NOT saying ‘it is good’ or ‘it is OK/fine’?
When we use ‘bien‘ with verbs other than ESTAR, it’s much easier because they don’t translate as ‘good’ (unless you are using bad English). Here are some examples of ‘bien‘ used with other verbs:
| She was doing very well. Hacía muy bien |
| Sit properly. Siéntate bien. |
| You all sang very well. Cantasteis muy bien. |
| You should speak properly. Deberías hablar bien. |
| It was going well. Iba bien. |
As mentioned earlier, in the best English, the above examples shouldn’t really be translated as ‘good‘ and therefore should cause no problems when choosing to use ‘bien‘. However, as with all languages, what is grammatically the best option is not always what people choose, and in English we do like to say ‘good’ a lot. Therefore, you may hear English people saying ‘it was going good‘ when ideally it would be ‘it was going well‘.
Just try and remember good English and it will mean that you don’t accidently use ‘bueno‘.
So what about ‘fue bien’?
When people learn that you shouldn’t use ‘bien‘ with SER (unless it means ‘very’) that say, well why have I seen ‘fue bien‘ so often?
When you come accross ‘fue bien‘ , the ‘fue‘ is not ‘it was‘, in fact it means ‘it went‘. Remember that both IR (to go) and SER (To be) conjugate as fui/fuiste/fue/fuimos/fuisteis/fueron in the past preterite tense.
Therefore, when you see ‘fue bien‘ it is actually ‘it went well‘ NOT ‘it was good’.
In conclusion
Bueno and bien are not actually that hard if you remember these key facts:
- Bueno means good.
- Bien means OK/fine/well/properly… and will often appear after a variety of verbs.
- Bueno will usually appear with SER.
- Bien will never appear with SER unless is means ‘very‘.
- Don’t get caught out with bad English when deciding if we really should be saying ‘good’.
- Fue bien is ‘it went well‘, not ‘it was good’.
As always, the best way gain confidence when using these two words is to practise. Head over to Simple Spanish Tips you’ll find plenty of interactive practice activities to do!
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