Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Ele parece ágil, mas durante o combate não o é. - He seems agile, but during the combat he is not.

Ele parece ágil, mas durante o combate não o é.

He seems agile, but during the combat he is not.

Breakdown of Ele parece ágil, mas durante o combate não o é.

Questions & Answers about Ele parece ágil, mas durante o combate não o é.

What exactly does the o in não o é mean here?

This is the neuter predicative clitic. It replaces the adjective ágil from the first half of the sentence. While in English we simply say "he is not" and leave out the adjective, Portuguese requires this o to stand in for the dropped characteristic, acting a bit like "he is not so" or "he is not it".

If the subject were female (Ela parece ágil), would the pronoun change to não a é?

No, it would stay exactly the same: não o é. When the clitic o replaces a predicate adjective (a characteristic rather than a direct object noun), it is neuter and invariable. It never changes to match the gender or number of the subject.

Why is the clitic placed before the verb (não o é) instead of after (não é-o)?

The negative word não acts as a "magnet" in Portuguese. It forces the pronoun o to jump in front of the verb é, which is a rule you might remember from earlier lessons on pronoun placement (proclisis).

Can this neuter o refer back to adjectives used with verbs other than ser?