El gato está delgado.

The cat is thin.

Breakdown of El gato está delgado.

• el gato: the cat
• estar: to be
• delgado: thin or slim

Questions & Answers about El gato está delgado.

Why is it el gato and not just gato?

In Spanish, it is very common to use the definite article with nouns when talking about a specific thing or animal. El gato means the cat.

If you said just gato, it would usually sound incomplete by itself in a normal sentence. You would more often use:

• El gato = the cat
• Un gato = a cat

So El gato está delgado means The cat is thin.

Why does the sentence use está instead of es?

Spanish has two verbs that both mean to be: ser and estar.

Here, estar is used because delgado is describing the cat’s current physical condition or state, not defining what kind of thing it is.

So:

• El gato está delgado = The cat is thin / The cat looks thin / The cat has become thin

This often suggests a temporary state, a recent change, or an observed condition.

By contrast:

• El gato es delgado would suggest that being thin is more of a general characteristic of the cat.

Both can be possible in some contexts, but está delgado is very natural when noticing that the cat is thin, perhaps thinner than before.

What form of estar is está?