El bolsillo izquierdo está vacío.

The left pocket is empty.

Breakdown of El bolsillo izquierdo está vacío.

• estar: to be
• el bolsillo: the pocket
• vacío: empty
• izquierdo: left

Questions & Answers about El bolsillo izquierdo está vacío.

Why is está used instead of es?

Use estar for states or conditions that can change. A pocket being empty is a temporary condition, so está vacío is the natural choice. With containers, Spanish almost always uses estar for adjectives like vacío/lleno:

• La botella está vacía.
• El cajón está lleno.

Using ser here (es vacío) would sound odd or philosophical (like “is inherently empty”), which is not what you mean.

Why do both adjectives end in -o: izquierdo, vacío?

They agree with the gender and number of bolsillo, which is masculine singular. If the noun were feminine singular, both adjectives would be feminine singular:

• La mano izquierda está vacía.

Why does izquierdo come after bolsillo?

Most descriptive adjectives (colors, shapes, nationalities, and left/right: izquierdo/derecho) follow the noun: el bolsillo izquierdo.
The adjective vacío is in the predicate after the verb (está vacío), which is where predicate adjectives go.

Can I say El bolsillo de la izquierda instead of ?