Learn Spanish (Latin America): El hijo de la señora está feliz ahora.

El hijo de la señora está feliz ahora.

The lady's son is happy now.

Breakdown of El hijo de la señora está feliz ahora.

to be (location/state)

Questions & Answers about El hijo de la señora está feliz ahora.

Why does the sentence say El hijo de la señora instead of La señora's hijo?

In Spanish, there is no apostrophe "s" ('s) to show that something belongs to someone. Instead, you always use the word de (which means "of") and flip the order. You literally say "the son of the lady": El hijo de la señora.

Why is the verb está used here instead of es?

Está comes from the verb estar, which is used for temporary states, moods, and feelings. Because the son is happy right now (ahora), we use está. If you used es (from the verb ser), it would mean he is generally a joyful person as part of his permanent personality.

Because hijo is a masculine word, shouldn't feliz end in an "o"?

Not all adjectives change their endings to match gender. Adjectives that end in consonants or the letter "e", like feliz (happy), stay exactly the same for both masculine and feminine words. It is el hijo está feliz and la hija está feliz.

I thought señora meant "Mrs."?

It often does! When placed directly before a name, señora translates to "Mrs." However, when used on its own with the word "the" (la señora), it just means "the lady" or "the woman".