El remitente es chino.

to be

Breakdown of El remitente es chino.

• el remitente: the sender of a parcel or letter
• chino: Chinese

Questions & Answers about El remitente es chino.

Why is it el remitente and not la remitente?

Because remitente is a noun that can refer to either a male or a female sender. In Spanish, this kind of noun is often called a common-gender noun.

• el remitente = the sender, if male or unspecified
• la remitente = the sender, if female

So in El remitente es chino, the sentence is talking about a male sender, or a sender treated as grammatically masculine by context.

Does remitente change form for masculine and feminine?

Usually, remitente itself stays the same. What changes is the article, and sometimes the adjective.

• el remitente es chino
• la remitente es china

So the noun remitente does not become something else like remitenta. The gender is shown by el/la and by adjectives like chino/china.

Why is it es and not está?

Because ser is used for things like identity, origin, nationality, and permanent characteristics.

Here, chino means Chinese, which is a nationality or origin, so Spanish uses ser:

• El remitente es chino.

Using estar here would sound wrong in standard Spanish, because nationality is not treated as a temporary condition.

Why is chino lowercase?