El pelaje está limpio.

In Spanish, it is very common to use the definite article el / la / los / las where English might use the, a, or sometimes nothing at all.

Here, el pelaje means the fur/coat. Spanish often sounds more natural with the article when talking about a body covering, a characteristic, or something specific that is being described.

So El pelaje está limpio is the natural way to say it.

Pelaje usually refers to an animal’s fur, coat, or hair covering.

It is most commonly used for animals, not people. So if you are describing a dog, cat, horse, or another furry animal, pelaje is a good word.

It can also sometimes refer to the type or coloring of an animal’s coat, depending on context.

Both relate to hair, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

• pelo = hair in general; can refer to human hair or animal hair
• pelaje = an animal’s fur/coat as a whole

So:

• El perro tiene mucho pelo = The dog has a lot of hair.
• El pelaje del perro está limpio = The dog’s coat/fur is clean.

If you are talking about the overall coat of an animal, pelaje is often the better choice.

Spanish uses two verbs for to be: ser and estar.

Here, está is used because limpio describes a condition or state: the fur is currently clean.

• estar + adjective often describes a temporary or resulting condition
• ser + adjective often describes an essential characteristic

So:

• El pelaje está limpio = The fur is clean right now / in its current state

Using es limpio would sound more like saying the fur is inherently clean by nature, which is usually not the intended meaning.

Because pelaje is a masculine singular noun.

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

• masculine singular: limpio
• feminine singular: limpia
• masculine plural: limpios
• feminine plural: limpias

Since pelaje is masculine singular, the correct form is limpio.

You usually learn a noun’s gender together with its article:

• el pelaje = masculine
• la would mark a feminine noun

Although many nouns ending in -aje are masculine, it is best to learn them with the article. So memorize it as el pelaje, not just pelaje.

Yes, in some contexts you could, but it changes the nuance a little.

• El pelo está limpio = The hair is clean
• El pelaje está limpio = The fur/coat is clean

For an animal, pelaje sounds more specifically like the animal’s coat or fur. Pelo is more general.

If you are talking about a person, you would normally use pelo, not pelaje.

Usually yes, or at least about a specific coat/fur that the speaker has in mind.

The article el often suggests something identifiable from context, such as:

• a pet you are looking at
• an animal already mentioned
• a photo or description

If you wanted to say an animal has clean fur, you might use a different structure depending on context.

The noun pelaje itself is the subject, so you normally keep it if you want to say what is clean.

What Spanish often omits is the subject pronoun, not the subject noun. For example, you would not need él or ello here.

So the natural sentence is simply:

El pelaje está limpio.

It would be:

Los pelajes están limpios.

Notice that everything changes to plural:

• el → los
• pelaje → pelajes
• está → están
• limpio → limpios

That said, in real life, speakers may not often use pelajes unless they are talking about the coats of multiple animals in a more descriptive or formal way.

A helpful approximate pronunciation is:

peh-LAH-heh

A few details:

• j in Spanish is a strong breathy sound, like an English h but rougher
• the stress falls on la: pe-LA-je

So: peh-LAH-heh

Mostly, but not only.

In this sentence, limpio clearly means clean in the physical sense. But limpio can also be used in other ways, such as:

• una mesa limpia = a clean table
• un historial limpio = a clean record
• energía limpia = clean energy

Here, though, it simply means the animal’s fur/coat is clean.