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El estudiante es muy despierto, pero hoy está callado.

El estudiante es muy despierto, pero hoy está callado.
The student is very bright, but today he is silent.
From Lesson 230:Adjective meaning changes (ser vs. estar)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about El estudiante es muy despierto, pero hoy está callado.

Why does despierto mean bright here instead of awake?
This is a great example of an adjective that changes meaning depending on the verb. With estar, despierto means awake as a temporary physical state. But here we use es from the verb ser, which describes a characteristic trait. Ser despierto means someone is mentally sharp, quick-witted, or bright.
Could we say es callado instead of está callado?
You could, but it would change the meaning entirely. Using estar with callado means he is being quiet right now, which fits perfectly with the word hoy. If you said es callado, it would mean he is generally a shy or reserved person by nature.
Is there a reason we use pero instead of sino for the word but?
Yes! You use sino when the first part of the sentence is negative and the second part corrects it, translating to but rather. Since the first part of this sentence is a positive statement (es muy despierto), we use the standard word for but, which is pero.
How do we know the student is male?
The noun estudiante ends in -e and can be used for any gender. We know this specific student is male because of the masculine article el. If the student were female, we would say la estudiante and the adjectives would change to match her: es muy despierta, pero hoy está callada.

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