Questions & Answers about La paciente está embarazada.
Why is it está and not es in La paciente está embarazada?
Spanish uses estar for many states or conditions, and embarazada is treated as a condition, not a permanent identity.
- está embarazada = is pregnant
- es would sound wrong here
A useful pattern is:
- está enferma = is ill
- está cansada = is tired
- está embarazada = is pregnant
So even though pregnancy may last months, Spanish still uses estar, not ser.
Why does paciente take la if the word ends in -e?
Because paciente can refer to either a male or a female patient. The article shows the gender here.
- el paciente = the male patient
- la paciente = the female patient
The ending -e does not automatically mean masculine or feminine. Many Spanish nouns ending in -e can be either, and you find out from the article or the context.
Why is it embarazada and not embarazado?
Because embarazada agrees with la paciente, which is feminine singular.
In Spanish, adjectives usually agree with the noun in:
- gender: masculine/feminine
- number: singular/plural
So:
- la paciente está embarazada = the female patient is pregnant
- el paciente está embarazado would match grammatically, but in real usage pregnancy normally applies to a woman, so you usually hear embarazada
Can paciente be both a noun and an adjective?
Is embarazada related to English embarrassed?
It may look similar, but no: this is a classic false friend.
So:
- Estoy embarazada = I am pregnant
- Estoy avergonzada = I am embarrassed
This is a very important word pair not to confuse.
Do I need to say a subject pronoun like ella?
No. Spanish often omits subject pronouns when the meaning is already clear.
So you normally say:
- La paciente está embarazada
You could say:
- Ella está embarazada
but that means She is pregnant, not The patient is pregnant. Since your sentence already has the subject la paciente, adding ella would usually be unnecessary.
Why is there an accent on está?
The accent mark shows the correct stress: es-TÁ.
It also helps distinguish forms in writing:
- esta = this
- está = is
So the accent matters both for pronunciation and for meaning.
Can I leave out la and just say Paciente está embarazada?
Normally, no. In standard Spanish, you usually need the article here:
- La paciente está embarazada
Leaving out the article sounds unnatural in an ordinary full sentence. In very special contexts like notes, headlines, or medical shorthand, you might see article omission, but for normal speech and writing, use la paciente.
How would I make the sentence plural?
You make the article, noun reference, verb, and adjective match the plural subject:
- Las pacientes están embarazadas = The patients are pregnant
Changes:
- la → las
- está → están
- embarazada → embarazadas
Notice that paciente itself does not change much in the singular/plural except by adding -s:
- la paciente
- las pacientes
Is this sentence specifically medical or formal?
Yes, it sounds fairly neutral to formal, especially because of la paciente.
You are likely to hear it in:
- medical contexts
- reports
- professional speech
In everyday conversation, people would more often say:
- Está embarazada = She is pregnant
- Mi hermana está embarazada = My sister is pregnant
- La mujer está embarazada = The woman is pregnant
So la paciente is perfectly correct, but it clearly sounds like a medical or clinical context.
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