10.17: Putting It Together- ¿Estás triste? ¿Por qué?

Click on each link below for a review summary to help you complete the assignments and prepare for the quiz to demonstrate your mastery of the objectives.

Adjetivos de emoción y condición

interesado/a (interested)

aburrido/a (bored)

sorprendido/a (surprised)

emocionado/a (excited)

asustado/a (frightened)

despierto/a (awake)

dormido/a (asleep)

cansado/a (tired)

borracho/a (drunk)

confundido/a (confused)

alegre (happy)

contento/a (content/happy)

feliz (happy)

triste (sad)

deprimido/a (depressed)

enamorado/a (in love)

enojado/a (angry)

en forma (fit, in good shape)

sano/a (healthy)

enfermo/a (sick)

tranquilo/a (tranquil and calm)

preocupado/a (worried)

estresado/a (stressed)

nervioso/a (nervous)

frustrado/a (frustrated)

ocupado/a (busy)

limpio/a (clean)

sucio/a (dirty)

vivo/a (alive)

muerto/a (dead)

abierto (open)

cerrado/a (closed)

orgulloso/a (proud)

avergonzado/a (embarrassed)

Algunas respuestas (some answers/responses):

- ¡Felicitaciones! (Congratulations!)

- ¡Qué bien! (That’s great!)

- ¿De veras? ¿Qué pasa? (Really? What’s going on?)

- Lo siento. (I’m sorry.)

- Oh, ¡qué horror! (Oh, that’s terrible!)

Estar + emotions

Estar is used with descriptive adjectives to talk about emotional conditions and states of being.

- Ana está muy contenta y tranquila. (Ana is very happy and calm.)

Ser vs estar with adjectives

Adjetivos usados con ser: Personality, general lifestyle, or qualities

Ser is used to talk about the inherent, essential or identifying qualities or characteristics of a person or thing:

• alto/a (tall) – bajo/a (short)
• amable/a (nice, amiable) – antipático/a (unfriendly)
• honesto/deshonesto (honest/dishonest)
• inteligente (intelligent)

Adjetivos usados con estar: Conditions or states

Estar is used to talk about the temporary, relative, or contingent condition of a person or thing:

• contento (happy, content) – triste (sad)
• sano (healthy) – enfermo (sick)
• tranquilo (calm) – preocupado (worried)
• cansado (tired) – enérgico (energetic)

When trying to decide between ser and estar, ask yourself: is this a characteristic of the person/thing (use ser), or is it a condition or state (use estar)? For this reason, emotions usually go with estar, while personality traits go with ser.

¿Cómo?

¿Cómo? literally means “how?”, but is not always translated that way in English.

Notice in the following examples how the difference between ser and estar drives a different translation of ¿cómo?.

“¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?” “Estoy bien, gracias.” (“Hi! How are you?” “I’m fine, thanks.”) “¿Cómo es tu novio?” “Es cómico y muy inteligente.” (“What is your boyfriend like?” “He’s funny and very intelligent.”)

Conjunciones coordinadas

The four main coordinating conjunctions in Spanish are: y (and), o (or), pero (but), and porque (because).

Porque vs. ¿por qué?

These two words are frequently confused in Spanish because of their similarities in spelling and pronunciation, but they are really completely different words.

¿¿Por qué me haces esto?? (Why are you doing this to me??)
Lo hago porque me preocupo por ti. (I do it because I worry about you.)