El mensaje escrito es corto y claro.

The written message is short and clear.

Breakdown of El mensaje escrito es corto y claro.

• ser: to be
• y: and
• el mensaje: the message
• claro: clear
• corto: short
• escrito: written

Questions & Answers about El mensaje escrito es corto y claro.

What is escrito doing in this sentence? Is it part of the verb or an adjective?

In El mensaje escrito es corto y claro, escrito is functioning as an adjective, not as part of a verb tense.

• Literally: el mensaje escrito = the written message
• Structure:
  
  • mensaje = noun (message)
  • escrito = past participle of escribir being used as an adjective (written)

So the sentence is:

• El mensaje escrito (the written message)
• es (is)
• corto y claro (short and clear)

It is not a passive form like "The message is written" (which would be El mensaje está escrito).

Why is it escrito and not escribido?

Escrito is an irregular past participle of the verb escribir (to write).

• Correct participle: escrito (written)
• Incorrect / non-standard: escribido

Spanish has several irregular past participles like:

• abrir → abierto (to open → opened)
• ver → visto (to see → seen)
• hacer → hecho (to do/make → done/made)
• escribir → escrito (to write → written)

So you must memorize escribir → escrito, and then you can use escrito as:

• Part of compound tenses: he escrito (I have written)
• An adjective: un mensaje escrito (a written message)

Why is it El mensaje and not Un mensaje?

El is the definite article (“the”), while un is the indefinite article (“a / an”).

• El mensaje escrito es corto y claro
  = The written message is short and clear.
  → We are talking about a specific message that both speakers know about (for example, the message someone wrote earlier).

• Un mensaje escrito es corto y claro
  = A written message is short and clear.
  → This sounds more like a general statement or describing some message, not a particular one.

In most real situations, if you have a concrete message in mind, Spanish will use el.

Why are corto and claro ending in -o?

Because they are adjectives that must agree in gender and number with the noun mensaje.

• mensaje is masculine singular: el mensaje
• So the adjectives must also be masculine singular:
  
  • corto (short)
  • claro (clear)

If the noun were plural or feminine, the adjectives would change:

• Los mensajes escritos son cortos y claros.
  (The written messages are short and clear.)

• La nota escrita es corta y clara.
  (The written note is short and clear.)

Why is it es and not está? What’s the difference here?

Es comes from ser; está comes from estar.
In El mensaje escrito es corto y claro, we use ser because:

• We’re describing inherent characteristics of the message: its length (short) and style (clear).
• These are seen as stable qualities, not temporary states.

Compare:

• El mensaje está escrito.
  → Focus: the state of the message (it is in written form, not spoken). Temporary/ resulting state ⇒ estar.

• El mensaje escrito es corto y claro.
  → Focus: the qualities or description of that written message ⇒ ser.

Could I say El mensaje es corto y claro without escrito?

Yes, and it would be perfectly correct, but the meaning changes slightly:

• El mensaje escrito es corto y claro.
  → Specifically emphasizes that you are talking about a written message.

• El mensaje es corto y claro.
  → Could be written, spoken, recorded, etc. You are only talking about length and clarity, not the format.

So escrito adds extra information: it tells you the type of message.

Can I change the word order and say El mensaje es corto, claro y escrito?

Grammatically, yes, but the meaning and focus change:

• El mensaje escrito es corto y claro.
  → Main idea: a written message, and that written message happens to be short and clear.
  → escrito is closely tied to mensaje, almost like a label: written-message.

• El mensaje es corto, claro y escrito.
  → Sounds like you’re listing three separate qualities of mensaje:

  1. It’s short
  2. It’s clear
  3. It’s written
     → This order is less natural if “written” is just identifying the type of message.

In normal usage, when escrito classifies the noun (what kind of message it is), Spanish prefers it right after the noun: mensaje escrito.

What’s the difference between corto and breve?

Both can mean short, but there is a nuance:

• corto

  • General word for short (in length, duration, size, height, etc.).
  • Un mensaje corto = a short message (not many words).

• breve

  • More “formal” or “literary” in many contexts.
  • Often used with speech, texts, meetings, notes: brief, concise.
  • Un mensaje breve = a brief message (emphasizing that it doesn’t take long to read or say).

In your sentence, you could also say:

• El mensaje escrito es breve y claro.

It would sound slightly more formal or focused on conciseness, but still very natural.

Does claro here mean “light-colored” or “easy to understand”?

In this context, claro means easy to understand / not confusing.

Claro has two common meanings:

1. Clear / easy to understand

   • El mensaje es claro.
     → The message is clear (easy to understand).

2. Light (in color)

   • Un color claro → a light color
   • Pelo claro → light-colored hair

With something like mensaje, the default interpretation is about understandability, not color.

Why do we say El mensaje and not use the subject pronoun Él (he)?

In Spanish, the subject is usually expressed with:

• A noun (like el mensaje)
• Or a pronoun (like él)

But you normally don’t use both unless you’re emphasizing something.

• El mensaje escrito es corto y claro.
  → Natural: the subject is the noun phrase el mensaje escrito.

• Él es corto y claro.
  → Grammatically possible, but él here would refer to a person or a masculine noun already mentioned, not to “the message” unless it was crystal clear in the context.

You can’t replace el mensaje with él unless it’s obvious you are talking about the message, and even then it would sound odd: we don’t usually call a message él in normal speech. We just keep the noun.

Why is the adjective escrito placed after mensaje and not before it?

In Spanish, adjectives that classify or identify the type of noun usually go after the noun:

• mensaje escrito = written message
• carta formal = formal letter
• café caliente = hot coffee

If you put the adjective before the noun, it often changes the tone or meaning and can sound poetic, emphatic, or unusual.

• el mensaje escrito (normal, descriptive)
• el escrito mensaje (very strange, almost never used)

So the natural, standard order is noun + adjective: mensaje escrito.

Is there any difference in how this sentence would be used in Latin America vs Spain?

The sentence El mensaje escrito es corto y claro is perfectly natural both in Latin America and Spain.

Minor notes:

• mensaje is widely used in all varieties of Spanish for:

  • text messages
  • voice messages
  • written notes
  • general “messages”

• Some regions might also use recado or nota in specific situations, but mensaje is completely standard everywhere.

So you can safely use this exact sentence in any Spanish-speaking country.