Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Mi hermano parece callado, pero con sus amigas habla muchísimo. - My brother seems quiet, but with his friends he talks a lot.

Mi hermano parece callado = My brother seems/looks quiet (the impression he gives).
Mi hermano es callado = My brother is quiet (you describe his character as a fact).

In this sentence, parece callado suggests:

From the outside, he looks like a quiet person,
but that perception isn't the whole truth, as we see in the second part: pero con sus amigas habla muchísimo.

What exactly does callado mean here? Is it “quiet,” “silent,” or “shy”?

Callado basically means quiet / not talkative, more about how much someone speaks than about their feelings.

Rough guide:

callado – quiet, not speaking much
- Está callado hoy. = He’s quiet today. (not talking much)
tímido – shy, socially reserved or nervous
- Es tímido. = He’s shy. (personality, feels nervous or insecure)
silencioso – silent, makes little noise (often for things or places)
- Un barrio silencioso. = A quiet/silent neighborhood.

In parece callado, the idea is: > He seems like someone who doesn’t talk much,

not necessarily that he is shy or that there is complete silence.

Why is it callado and not callada?

Adjectives in Spanish agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

Mi hermano = my brother → masculine, singular
So the adjective must be: callado (masculine singular)

If it were my sister, you’d say:

Mi hermana parece callada. = My sister seems quiet.

Plural examples:

Mis hermanos parecen callados. = My brothers (or siblings) seem quiet.
Mis hermanas parecen calladas. = My sisters seem quiet.

Is callado an adjective or a past participle from a verb?

It’s actually both:

From the verb callar(se) = to silence / to be quiet.
The past participle callado is used as an adjective: quiet, not speaking.

In this sentence, callado clearly functions as an adjective describing mi hermano:

parece callado = he seems quiet, not he seems “silenced” in a literal sense.

You’ll also hear:

Está callado. = He is (staying) quiet.
Se quedó callado. = He went/stayed quiet.

Why is it con sus amigas habla muchísimo and not habla muchísimo con sus amigas?

Both word orders are correct:

Con sus amigas habla muchísimo.
Habla muchísimo con sus amigas.

The difference is emphasis:

Starting with con sus amigas puts focus on with his (female) friends:
- With his (girl) friends, he talks a lot. (implying: but not with others)
The more neutral order is Habla muchísimo con sus amigas, just stating the fact that he talks a lot with them.

Spanish allows a fairly flexible word order for emphasis as long as the grammar remains correct.

Does amigas mean specifically female friends?

Yes.

amiga / amigas = female friend / female friends
amigo / amigos = male friend / male friends or a mixed-gender group

So:

sus amigas = his female friends (only girls/women)
sus amigos would be:
- his male friends, or
- his mixed group of friends (men + women)

In this sentence, amigas clearly implies a group of women.

Could sus amigas also mean “her friends” or “your friends”?

Yes. Sus is ambiguous by itself; it can mean:

his (sus amigas = his friends)
her (sus amigas = her friends)
your formal, singular (usted) (sus amigas = your friends)
your plural (ustedes) (sus amigas = your friends)
their (sus amigas = their friends)

In this sentence, context makes it clear:

Mi hermano → we naturally interpret sus amigas as his friends.

If you needed to be extra clear in speech, you could add:

las amigas de mi hermano = my brother’s (female) friends.

Why is it just habla and not something like “does talk” for emphasis?

Spanish doesn’t need an extra “do” verb for emphasis.

English: He *does talk a lot.* (emphatic)
Spanish: Él habla muchísimo. (context, stress, and words like muchísimo give the emphasis)

The simple present habla covers:

He talks, He does talk, and He is talking (depending on context).

Here it clearly describes a habitual action:

con sus amigas habla muchísimo = with his friends he talks a lot (in general/usually).

What does muchísimo add compared to just mucho?

Muchísimo is an intensified form of mucho.

habla mucho = he talks a lot
habla muchísimo = he talks a whole lot / loads / an awful lot

Grammatically:

mucho → “a lot”
muchísimo → “very, very much”, “a ton”

So the sentence emphasizes that with his female friends, he doesn’t just talk a bit more; he talks a huge amount.

Why don’t we need él before habla muchísimo?

Spanish normally drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

habla → can only be he / she / you (formal) from context.
We already know we are talking about mi hermano, so Spanish doesn’t repeat él.

So this is fully understood:

Mi hermano parece callado, pero con sus amigas habla muchísimo.

You could say:

… pero con sus amigas él habla muchísimo.

But adding él here would usually:

sound a bit more emphatic or contrastive:
- but with his friends, *he talks a lot (unlike others).*

Why is the present tense habla used to express a general habit?

In Spanish, the simple present often expresses:

habits / general truths, not only actions happening right now.

Examples:

Fuma mucho. = He smokes a lot. (habit)
Trabaja en una oficina. = She works in an office. (ongoing situation)
Mi hermano parece callado, pero con sus amigas habla muchísimo.
= My brother seems quiet, but with his friends he talks a lot. (general behavior)

You don’t need a special structure like “he tends to talk a lot”; the simple present already covers that idea.

Is the comma before pero required in Spanish?

Placing a comma before pero is standard and recommended when it connects two independent clauses, just as in English.

Mi hermano parece callado, pero con sus amigas habla muchísimo.

Each side could be a full sentence:

Mi hermano parece callado.
Con sus amigas habla muchísimo.

So the comma is natural here. You’ll almost always see a comma before pero when it links two full clauses like this.