Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Ele é sempre simpático, mas hoje está triste.

Ele é sempre simpático, mas hoje está triste.

He is always nice, but today he is sad.

Breakdown of Ele é sempre simpático, mas hoje está triste.

to be (temporary / location)

Questions & Answers about Ele é sempre simpático, mas hoje está triste.

Why do we use two different words (é and está) for 'is' in the same sentence?

This is a perfect example of the two Portuguese verbs for 'to be'. We use é (from the verb ser) for a permanent personality trait: he is always a nice person. We use está (from the verb estar) for a temporary mood or state: just for today, he is sad.

Does simpático mean 'sympathetic'?

No, this is a common false friend! In Portuguese, simpático means friendly, nice, or pleasant. To say someone is sympathetic to your problems, you would use a word like compreensivo.

Why isn't there another ele before está triste?

In Portuguese, you can drop the subject pronoun (like ele, ela, or eu) if it is already clear from the context. Since we established we are talking about ele at the beginning of the sentence, we don't need to repeat it before the second verb.

If we changed the sentence to 'She is always nice, but today she is sad', how would the adjectives change?

Simpático would change to simpática to match a female subject (ela). However, triste ends in an 'e', which usually means it is a gender-neutral adjective. It stays exactly the same for both men and women.