Mi hermano es trabajador.

In Spanish, possessive words like mi, tu, su, nuestro, etc. usually replace the article.

So you say:

• mi hermano = my brother
• tu casa = your house

Not:

• el mi hermano

Using mi already tells you whose brother it is, so el is not needed.

Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed. The verb already shows the subject.

• es = he/she/it is

So Mi hermano es trabajador is completely natural without él.

You could say Él es trabajador, but that would usually be for emphasis, contrast, or clarification.

Spanish uses ser and estar for different kinds of to be.

Here, trabajador describes a more permanent or characteristic quality: your brother is a hardworking person. For that, Spanish uses ser:

• Mi hermano es trabajador.

Using estar trabajador would sound unnatural in standard Spanish. If you want to talk about how someone is behaving in a specific moment, Spanish would normally use a different expression, such as:

• Mi hermano está trabajando mucho últimamente = My brother has been working a lot lately

In this sentence, trabajador most naturally means hardworking.

So:

• Mi hermano es trabajador = My brother is hardworking

This is a very common pattern in Spanish: a word that can also be a noun is used as an adjective to describe someone.

If you want to say My brother is a worker, Spanish would more naturally say:

• Mi hermano es un trabajador

But in many cases, Spanish prefers a more specific noun, such as a profession:

• Mi hermano es carpintero
• Mi hermano es profesor

Because here trabajador is being used like an adjective, not as a noun.

• Mi hermano es trabajador = My brother is hardworking
• Mi hermano es un trabajador = My brother is a worker

That small difference changes the meaning.

So if there is no article, learners should usually understand it as a description of the person’s character.

It can be both, depending on the sentence.

As an adjective:

• Mi hermano es trabajador = My brother is hardworking

As a noun:

• Mi hermano es un trabajador = My brother is a worker

This is common in Spanish. Some words can function in more than one way.

Because this is a normal Spanish sentence pattern:

• subject + ser + description

So:

• Mi hermano = subject
• es = is
• trabajador = description

This is similar to English in structure:

• My brother is hardworking

Spanish adjectives often come after the noun when they directly modify it, and after ser they commonly appear as predicate adjectives, as in this sentence.

Then the adjective changes to match a feminine subject:

• Mi hermana es trabajadora.

So:

• trabajador = masculine
• trabajadora = feminine

Spanish adjectives often change form to match the gender of the person or thing they describe.

You need to make both the noun and the adjective plural:

• Mis hermanos son trabajadores = My brothers are hardworking
• Mis hermanas son trabajadoras = My sisters are hardworking

Changes:

• mi → mis
• hermano → hermanos / hermanas
• es → son
• trabajador → trabajadores / trabajadoras

Yes, absolutely.

• Mi hermano es muy trabajador = My brother is very hardworking

This is a very natural way to strengthen the description.

Other common options are:

• bastante trabajador = quite hardworking
• tan trabajador = so hardworking
• realmente trabajador = really hardworking

In Spanish, h is silent.

So hermano is pronounced roughly like er-MAH-no.

A few pronunciation notes:

• h = silent
• r in hermano is a single tapped r
• mano sounds like MAH-no

So the whole word is approximately ehr-MAH-no, depending on accent.

A rough pronunciation is:

• tra-ba-ha-DOR

A few key points:

• j sounds like a strong breathy sound, similar to an English h, but usually stronger
• the stress is on the last syllable: -dor
• the r at the end is pronounced, not silent

So trabajador sounds roughly like tra-ba-ha-DOR.

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• Mi hermano es trabajador = describes his character; he is a hardworking person
• Mi hermano trabaja mucho = describes his actions; he works a lot

Sometimes both are true, but they are not exactly the same.

Someone might work a lot because they have many hours, while ser trabajador means being hardworking by nature or attitude.