Er ist arbeitslos.

In a normal German main clause, the conjugated verb goes in the second position. Here, ist is the conjugated verb of sein.

So the structure is:

• Er = subject
• ist = verb
• arbeitslos = adjective/complement

This is the standard word order for a simple statement in German.

Arbeitslos is an adjective. In this sentence, it describes the subject er after the verb sein.

This works like English sentences such as:

• He is tired
• He is happy
• He is unemployed

After sein, German often uses an adjective in its basic form, with no extra ending.

Because it comes after the verb sein. When an adjective is used this way in German, it is called predicative, and it usually stays in its base form.

So:

• Er ist arbeitslos. ✅
• Der arbeitslose Mann. ✅

In the second example, arbeitslose comes before a noun, so it needs an adjective ending. But after ist, it does not.

Because arbeitslos is an adjective, not a noun.

German says:

• Er ist arbeitslos.

just like English says:

• He is unemployed.

You would only use an article if you were using a noun. For example:

• Er ist ein Arbeiter. = He is a worker.

But arbeitslos is not a noun here.

It is made up of:

• Arbeit = work
• -los = without, lacking

So arbeitslos literally means something like without work.

This -los ending is common in German:

• hilflos = helpless
• kostenlos = free of charge
• endlos = endless

A simple English-friendly guide is:

• Er ≈ air
• ist ≈ ist
• arbeitslos ≈ AR-bites-lohs

A few helpful points:

• ar in Arbeit is stressed at the beginning: AR
• ei sounds like English eye
• s in los sounds like z in standard pronunciation

So the whole sentence is roughly:

air ist AR-bites-lohz

You mainly change the pronoun and the form of sein:

• Ich bin arbeitslos. = I am unemployed.
• Du bist arbeitslos. = You are unemployed.
• Er ist arbeitslos. = He is unemployed.
• Sie ist arbeitslos. = She is unemployed.
• Wir sind arbeitslos. = We are unemployed.
• Sie sind arbeitslos. = They are unemployed.

Notice that arbeitslos stays the same here.

A common way is:

• Er ist nicht arbeitslos. = He is not unemployed.

The word nicht usually comes before the adjective or idea being negated here.

So:

• Er ist arbeitslos. = He is unemployed.
• Er ist nicht arbeitslos. = He is not unemployed.

Yes. Then it behaves like a normal attributive adjective and takes endings.

For example:

• ein arbeitsloser Mann = an unemployed man
• eine arbeitslose Frau = an unemployed woman

Compare:

• Der Mann ist arbeitslos. = The man is unemployed.
• der arbeitslose Mann = the unemployed man

This is a very common difference in German adjective usage.

Not here. It stays lowercase because it is an adjective:

• Er ist arbeitslos.

German capitalizes nouns, not adjectives used like this.

But if you turn it into a noun, it gets capitalized:

• der Arbeitslose = the unemployed man
• die Arbeitslose = the unemployed woman

So lowercase in the sentence you gave is correct.

Yes, it is possible, but Er ist arbeitslos is the more standard and direct way to say He is unemployed.

Compare:

• Er ist arbeitslos. = He is unemployed.
• Er ist ohne Arbeit. = He is without work.

The second version is understandable, but the first is the usual expression when talking about unemployment as a status.

Er is the subject pronoun meaning he. It is capitalized here only because it is the first word of the sentence, not because pronouns are normally capitalized in German.

So:

• Er ist arbeitslos.
• Ich glaube, dass er arbeitslos ist.

In the second sentence, er is lowercase because it is no longer at the beginning.