Learn Spanish (Latin America): Ellos son niños tristes.

Ellos son niños tristes.

They are sad children.

Breakdown of Ellos son niños tristes.

Questions & Answers about Ellos son niños tristes.

Why is it tristes instead of tristos?

The adjective triste (sad) ends in an -e. Adjectives ending in -e do not have separate masculine and feminine forms, so you never change the ending to -o or -a. Because niños is plural, you just add an -s to make it tristes.

Why does the word tristes come after niños?

In Spanish, descriptive adjectives almost always come right after the noun they describe. Instead of saying sad children like in English, the sentence literally says children sad (niños tristes).

Since sadness is a feeling, why does this sentence use son instead of están?

You are right that the verb estar is used for temporary feelings, like ellos están tristes (they are feeling sad right now). However, this sentence uses the verb ser (son) to describe what kind of children they are. Saying son niños tristes means they are gloomy or melancholy children by nature as a personality trait.

Why isn't there a word for some (unos) before niños?