Breakdown of Aquele transeunte está a ler um livro e parece ser muito reservado.
ser
to be
e
and
o livro
the book
muito
much / very
um
a / an / some (all forms)
estar
to be (temporary / location)
aquele
that over there (aquele, aquela, aqueles, aquelas)
ler
to read
parecer
to seem
reservado
reserved, booked
o transeunte
the passerby
Questions & Answers about Aquele transeunte está a ler um livro e parece ser muito reservado.
Why do we use ser with reservado here instead of estar?
This directly ties into how adjectives change meaning depending on the copular verb. Ser reservado describes a core personality trait, meaning the person is naturally private, introverted, or shy. If we used estar reservado, it would imply he is only temporarily acting aloof today, or it could refer to a physical object being booked, like a reserved table at a restaurant (a mesa está reservada).
How do we know the gender of the passerby since transeunte ends in -e?
Transeunte is an invariable noun, meaning the word itself doesn't change between masculine and feminine. We know this specific passerby is male because of the masculine demonstrative aquele at the start of the sentence and the masculine adjective agreement in reservado at the end. For a female passerby, the sentence would use aquela transeunte and end with reservada.
Is it mandatory to include ser after parece in this sentence?
No, you can safely drop it and just say parece muito reservado. Both are grammatically correct and very common in European Portuguese. Including the infinitive verb (ser or estar) after parecer is a stylistic choice that slightly emphasizes the state of being, but the meaning remains identical.
Is transeunte a word I should use in everyday casual conversation?
It is generally considered a bit formal. You will encounter transeunte frequently in news reports, written literature, or police statements to refer to a pedestrian or passerby. In a casual chat, native speakers are much more likely to describe the action, such as aquela pessoa que vai a passar (that person walking by), or use peão if they are specifically discussing road traffic.
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