Although ser and estar are by far the most common verbs for "to be," other verbs in Spanish can sometimes fill that role. Among them:

Existential haber: The third-person form of haber, usually in the singular, can be used for constructions such as "there is" or "there were" to indicate that something exists (that is, not to indicate something is in a particular location).

• Hay tres cosas importantes en mi vida. There are three important things in my life.

• No había los recursos que hay ahora. There weren't the resources that there are now.
• Habrá dos o tres equipos que ganan todo. Esperamos ser uno de ellos. There will be two or three teams winning it all. We hope to be one of them.

Andar:Andar, which typically means "to walk," can be used in some contexts to mean "to go about" or "to be," especially when followed by the gerund (-ndo form of the verb) or an adjective. Although andar isn't routinely used as a way of saying "to be," sometimes the context allows for such an interpretation.

• Dicen que la economía anda muy mal. No mal, sino muy mal. They say the economy is bad. Not bad, but very bad.
• Siempre andan enfadados. They're always angry.
• Yo me pregunto cuántos de estos andan trabajando en negro. I ask myself how many of them are working under the table.

Encontrarse: Although encontrar typically means "to find" or "to encounter," the reflexive form is sometimes best translated as a form of "to be" rather than something more formal such as "finds itself" or "finds herself."

• Yo me encontré cómodo muy rápidamente y disfruté de la experiencia. I was comfortable very quickly and enjoyed the experience.
• La república anuncia que el presidente se encuentra en estado muy delicado por una infección severa. The republic is announcing that the president is in a very delicate state because of a severe infection.
• El lago de Atitlán se encuentra a 1.562 metros sobre el nivel del mar. Lake Atitlán is 1,562 meters above sea level.

Hallarse:Hallar is often synonymous with encontrar, but it is less colloquial and used less frequently. Hallarse can be used in much the same way as encontrarse: La sede de la organización se halla en París. The organization's headquarters is in Paris.

Ubicarse:Ubicarse is a common way of saying "to be located." Thus it can be used in a way similar to encontrarse when referring to location: El restaurante se ubica en el centro de un pequeño pueblo de no más de 400 habitantes. The restaurant is in the center of a small village of no more than 400 residents.

Idioms using tener: Spanish frequently uses "tener + noun" phrases in situations where we'd use a "be + adjective" phrase in English. This is only a small sampling of examples:

• Mi hijo que tiene tres años tiene miedo de dormir solo. My 3-year-old son is afraid of sleeping alone.
• Todos tenemos razón y todos estamos equivocados. All of us are right and all of us are wrong.
• Los lobos tenían hambre y sed. The wolves were hungry and thirsty.
• Espero que tengas mucho suerte con tu primer trabajo. I hope you're very lucky with your first job.

Nacer: Some verbs are frequently translated with a "be" phrase. Probably the most common of these is nacer, which means "to be born": La cantante nació el 23 de noviembre de 1992. The singer was born on Nov. 23, 1992.

Sources: Sample sentences are adapted from a variety of sources including Facebook conversations, Fernando Alonso, ElSalvador.com, SoloMoto.es, Menéame, El Periódico Extremadura, es.Wikipedia.org, Yahoo.es and Vimeo.com.