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El vaso está vacío.

El vaso está vacío.
The glass is empty.
FromLesson 17inHardcore Spanish (Spain)

Breakdown of El vaso está vacío.

estar
to be
el vaso
the glass
vacío
empty

Questions & Answers about El vaso está vacío.

Why is it está and not es?
Because estar is used for states/conditions that can change (open/closed, full/empty, clean/dirty). El vaso está vacío describes the current state. Using ser here (El vaso es vacío) sounds wrong in everyday Spanish; it would imply an inherent quality, which doesn’t fit for a glass being empty.
What exactly does vaso mean in Spain? Is it the same as “cup” or “wine glass”?

In Spain:

  • vaso = a tumbler (straight-sided drinking glass, often for water/soft drinks)
  • copa = a stemmed glass (e.g., wine glass: copa de vino)
  • taza = a cup/mug for hot drinks (coffee/tea) So a native would not call a wine glass a vaso; that’s a copa.
Why is it el vaso (masculine)? Does vacío agree with it?
Vaso is a masculine noun (it ends in -o, and its article is el). Adjectives must agree, so you use the masculine singular vacío. Plural: los vasos están vacíos.
How would it change with a feminine noun like taza?

You’d change the article and the adjective: La taza está vacía. Plurals:

How do you pronounce the whole sentence in Spain?

Approximate Castilian pronunciation: el BA-so es-TÁ ba-THÍ-o.

  • v sounds like a soft “b”
  • z before a, o, u is an “s” sound; here it’s an s in vaso
  • c before i in vacío is a “th” sound (like English “think”)
Why do está and vacío have accents?
  • está: Words ending in a vowel are normally stressed on the second-to-last syllable. The accent forces final-syllable stress: es-TÁ.
  • vacío: The accent marks stress on -cí- and shows that í
    • o don’t form a diphthong. It’s three syllables: va-cí-o.
Can I drop the article or the noun? For example, just say Está vacío?
  • You can drop the noun phrase if the context is clear: Está vacío = “It’s empty.”
  • But if you say the noun, you normally keep the article: El vaso está vacío (not just Vaso está vacío).
Is está a form of estar? What are the main forms?

Yes, está is third person singular (he/she/it) in the present: “is.” Present indicative of estar:

  • yo estoy
  • tú estás
  • él/ella/usted está
  • nosotros/as estamos
  • vosotros/as estáis
  • ellos/ellas/ustedes están
Is El vaso es vacío ever correct?
Not in normal speech. Use estar for the state: El vaso está vacío. Ser vacío is rare and sounds technical or abstract (e.g., talking about a vacuum in physics), not about a drinking glass.
What’s the difference between vacío, vacío (verb), and vació?
  • vacío (adj./noun): “empty” / “emptiness” (e.g., el vacío = “the void”).
  • vacío (verb form): present, first person singular of vaciar (“to empty”): yo vacío = “I empty.”
  • vació (verb form): preterite, third person singular of vaciar: (él/ella) vació = “he/she emptied.” Context and sentence structure disambiguate them.
Could I say El vaso está vaciado?
Usually no. Vaciado is a participle focusing on the completed action (“has been emptied”), often used with ser or haber: El vaso ha sido vaciado / Alguien lo vació. For the resulting state, Spanish prefers the adjective vacío: El vaso está vacío.
What’s the opposite of vacío?

Lleno. Examples:

  • El vaso está lleno = “The glass is full.”
  • Feminine: La taza está llena.
Can I put the subject at the end: Está vacío el vaso?
Yes. Spanish allows predicate–subject order, often for emphasis or when introducing the subject. Está vacío el vaso is correct, though the neutral order is El vaso está vacío.
How do I make it plural?

Los vasos están vacíos. Adjective and verb agree in number:

  • singular: El vaso está vacío
  • plural: Los vasos están vacíos
How do I say “this/that glass is empty”?
  • Este vaso está vacío = this glass (near me)
  • Ese vaso está vacío = that glass (near you)
  • Aquel vaso está vacío = that glass (over there)
Any Spain-specific notes?
  • Pronunciation: in most of Spain, c before i/e sounds like “th” (so vacío = ba-THÍ-o), and v is pronounced like a soft b.
  • Vocabulary: the distinctions vaso (tumbler) vs copa (stemmed glass) vs taza (cup/mug) are strongly observed in Spain.
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