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El plato está roto.

El plato está roto.
The plate is broken.
FromLesson 28inHardcore Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of El plato está roto.

estar
to be
el plato
the plate
roto
broken

Questions & Answers about El plato está roto.

Why is el used before plato? Can I say Plato está roto without it?
In Spanish, most singular countable nouns require an article. El is the definite article (“the”) and specifies you’re talking about that particular plate. Saying Plato está roto without an article sounds incomplete. If you meant “a plate is broken” (not a specific one), you’d say Un plato está roto.
Why is está used instead of es?
Spanish has two verbs for “to be”: ser (es) and estar (está). Estar expresses temporary states or conditions—being broken is a condition. Es roto would use ser, which conveys inherent or permanent characteristics, so it doesn’t fit here.
Why is roto used instead of rompido?
The verb romper has an irregular past participle: roto. Unlike regular verbs that add -ido (e.g., comer → comido), romper becomes roto, and that form is what you use as an adjective after estar.
Why is the adjective roto placed after the noun and verb? Could it come before plato?
When a past participle functions as an adjective describing a resulting state, Spanish typically places it after estar: El plato está roto. Putting it before (e.g., El roto plato) is grammatically possible but stylistically rare—it sounds poetic or emphatic, not everyday speech.
Do adjectives have to agree in gender and number? What if I say las tazas están rotas?
Yes. Spanish adjectives agree with their nouns in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural). For feminine plural las tazas, you’d say Las tazas están rotas—notice rotas ends in -as.
Is se rompió el plato the same as el plato está roto?
They’re related but not identical. El plato está roto describes the plate’s current condition. Se rompió el plato focuses on the breaking event: “The plate broke” or “Someone broke the plate.” It emphasizes the action rather than the resulting state.
Can I use a passive voice like El plato fue roto?
While grammatically correct (the passive of romper), El plato fue roto is uncommon in conversational Spanish. Native speakers usually prefer the se-passive (Se rompió el plato) or simply describe the state with estar.
How do I pronounce El plato está roto?

A phonetic guide:

  • El → “ell”
  • plato → “PLAH-toh” (stress on PLAH)
  • está → “es-TAH” (stress on **TAH”)
  • roto → “ROH-toh” (stress on **ROH”)
    Put it all together: [el ˈplato esˈta ˈroto].
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“How does verb conjugation work in Spanish?”
Spanish verbs change form based on the subject, tense, and mood. Regular verbs follow predictable patterns depending on whether they end in ‑ar, ‑er, or ‑ir. For example, "hablar" (to speak) becomes "hablo" (I speak), "hablas" (you speak), and "habla" (he/she speaks) in the present tense.

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