Breakdown of Ella es responsable de ese proyecto.
ser
to be
de
from / of
ella
she
ese
that (masculine)
el proyecto
the project
responsable
responsible
Questions & Answers about Ella es responsable de ese proyecto.
Why do we use 'es' instead of 'está' here? Isn't managing a project a temporary situation?
Even though managing a project might seem temporary, the adjective responsable almost always goes with ser. When you say someone es responsable, it can mean they are a reliable person generally, or, like in this sentence, that they are the one in charge of a specific task. We do not use estar with responsable.
Could 'ser responsable' mean something else besides being in charge?
Yes! If you just say Ella es responsable without adding de ese proyecto, it describes a personality trait meaning 'she is a responsible (reliable) person'. The meaning shifts from a personal characteristic to an assigned role when you add de.
Why is it 'responsable de' and not 'responsable por'?
In English we say 'responsible for', but in Spanish, the fixed phrase is ser responsable de. Prepositions rarely translate word-for-word, so it is best to memorize responsable de as a single chunk of vocabulary.
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