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Identity Sentences

 Like its English equivalent ‘to be’, the Spanish verb ser can be used either to indicate the relation of identity or as a copula. The difference is apparent in the following pair of examples:

(1) Pedro es el médico.

(2) Pedro es (un) médico.

The es of (1) is a relational term indicating that the flanking expressions designate one and the same object. Using the identity sign ‘=’, the broad logical structure of (1) can be represented as ‘a = el F’, where a is Pedro and Fs are doctors. On the other hand, sentence (2) classifies Pedro as a doctor and so the structure is just ‘Fa’.