El conductor no estaba borracho.

Because Spanish usually uses estar for temporary states or conditions, and being drunk is treated as a state, not a permanent characteristic.

• estaba borracho = he was drunk
• era borracho would sound more like he was a drunk / he was habitually a drunk person, which is a different idea

So in this sentence, estaba borracho means the driver was not in a drunk condition at that time.

In Spanish, no normally goes directly before the conjugated verb.

• no estaba = was not
• no come = does not eat
• no tenía = did not have

So El conductor no estaba borracho follows the normal Spanish word order for negation.

Because conductor here is masculine singular, so the adjective must agree with it.

• el conductor ... borracho = the male driver ... drunk
• la conductora ... borracha = the female driver ... drunk

Spanish adjectives often change form to match the gender and number of the noun they describe.

Yes. Conductor can mean different things depending on context, such as:

• driver
• operator
• host/presenter in some varieties of Spanish
• even conductor in scientific or technical contexts

In this sentence, because of borracho, the natural meaning is driver.

Nouns ending in -or are often masculine in their basic form, and the feminine is usually made by adding -a.

• el conductor = the male driver
• la conductora = the female driver

So yes, there is a feminine form: conductora.

The imperfect often describes a background state, situation, or ongoing condition in the past.

Here, estaba presents not being drunk as a state at that moment or during that situation.

For example:

• El conductor no estaba borracho cuando ocurrió el accidente.

If you used estuvo, it would sound more like a completed state over a specific period, which is less natural in many contexts here. Spanish often prefers estaba borracho / no estaba borracho when describing someone’s condition.

Yes, grammatically you can, but the meaning shifts slightly.

• no estaba borracho = he was not drunk at that time / in that situation
• no estuvo borracho = he was not drunk during that whole event or period

The imperfect estaba is usually more natural when describing someone’s condition in a scene or situation.

Often yes, but not always exactly.

• no estaba borracho = he was not drunk
• estaba sobrio = he was sober

In many contexts they amount to the same thing, but no estaba borracho only denies drunkenness. It does not necessarily emphasize full sobriety as strongly as estaba sobrio does.

In standard Peninsular Spanish, it is approximately:

boh-RRA-cho

A few useful points:

• the rr is a strong rolled sound
• the ch sounds like the ch in church
• the o vowels are pure Spanish vowels, not diphthongs

So the word is not pronounced like English boracho; the rr matters.

Borracho is a common everyday word and is not especially formal. It usually means drunk in a direct, plain way.

Depending on tone and context, it can sound:

• neutral and descriptive
• critical
• insulting

A more formal word is ebrio, but that is less common in everyday conversation.

Not always, but it is normal here.

Spanish often uses the definite article more than English does. El conductor can mean:

• the driver
• sometimes the driver as the person being discussed in context

If you were identifying a person in a narrative or report, El conductor no estaba borracho sounds very natural.

Yes, but it changes the emphasis.

• El conductor no estaba borracho = neutral, standard order
• No estaba borracho el conductor = more marked; it can sound contrastive, as if correcting someone or emphasizing the driver

For example:

• No estaba borracho el conductor, sino el pasajero.

So the original order is the most neutral one.

Because Spanish verbs usually include the subject and tense information inside the verb form itself.

• estaba already means I/he/she/it was depending on context
• no estaba = was not

That is why Spanish does not need an extra word like English was plus another verb. The single form estaba carries that meaning.

Yes, if the subject is already clear from context.

Spanish often drops subjects when they are understood:

• No estaba borracho. = He wasn’t drunk / The driver wasn’t drunk

But if you want to make clear who you are talking about, keeping El conductor is better.

Yes, there can be.

• conductor is the standard general word for driver
• chofer also means driver, but it can suggest a chauffeur or a person whose role is specifically to drive

In Spain, conductor is very common in neutral contexts such as traffic, police reports, and news.